The Shadowed Coin
by RagingKoopatroopa
Summary: We run and hide and fight when we're found. There's nowhere left to go because we are stuck with each other. Light and Darkness. Heads and Tails. Two sides of The Shadowed Coin. ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

** The Shadowed Coin**

** Chapter 1:The Introduction**

"Sometimes I wonder how I got into this mess." I muttered to myself as I walked down the street. _"We both know the answer to that." _"But was running away really the answer?" "_If we stayed, we would've arrested, or killed...probably both." "_I guess your right."

On my walk through town, I stumbled upon the bar and stood outside for a second. "_Just get a drink, it'll calm your nerves." _"We don't have that kind of time, need to get to leave town quickly." I reminded him. "_Your too paranoid, we've only been here 3 days. They won't find us anytime soon." _I thought about it for a second. "Fine, I guess one drink couldn't hurt."

I stepped inside the bar and looked around. There were only a few people here, and they were all big men with big muscles, big beards, big- "_Yes there big, I get it! You don't need to go on!" Oh right, I forgot that since your in my head, you can hear my thoughts. "How could you possibly forget that! We've been stuck to with each other for 11 years!" Ok, calm down, no need to get angry. "_Um, sir? Sir?" I looked up and noticed people were staring at me. I guess I was mumbling.

I took a seat at the counter. "What would you like sir?" asked the bartender. "Just some wine please." She smiled at me, and then went to get the drink. _"You need to be more careful next time, people think your crazy now" Shut up. If that was anyones fault, it was yours. "I wasn't the one mumbling." _he said quietly.

The bartender came back with the drink. "Here you go sir." she said happily. "Thank you." I said and took the drink. "_I told you, isn't this great. Nobody's going to find us, you worry too much." _I lifted the glass. * CRASH RUMBLE RUMBLE*****. The glass flew out of my hand as people started falling around the room. "You were saying." I said to Tarrin, while being the only one still sitting in their seat. "There you are, Exorcist." said a deep scraggly voice.

It was at least 7 feet tall, with large fangs and green skin. It had a bears head on top of a lizards body. "Well, I guess you found me, akuma." He smiled. "Of course I did, the Earl has given the task of finding you to akuma all over the world. If I didn't find you, one of them would." he said gleefully. I grinned. "He wants me that badly, does he. You here that Tarrin, The Earl thinks we're important." _"Well, then we should show him what we think of that 'importance'." _I smiled. "Gladly."

I pulled out my two crescent moon shaped blades, Luna. "Innocence, Activate!" I said as the blades began to glow with a bright white light. "Haha" screamed the akuma as it charged me on all fours. "I will not be beaten the likes of you, Exorcist!" "I wouldn't be so sure, Lizard...bear... whatever your supposed to look like!"

As the akuma swiped at me with it's claws, I jumped above them and threw one of my blades straight out the door and landed a few feet to the left of him. "What the hell are you aiming for, you idiot!" he said laughing.

He charged again and I just stood there and crossed my arms with a smug grin on my face. Just as he was about to strike, the blade came back through the window and knocked him straight into the wall. "I was aiming for you," I said pulling the blade out of his hide. "and I never miss." Then he exploded.

I put Luna back into my belt and left the bar. "Good news: "they" still haven't found us." "_Bad news: the Earl has." "_Let's go, Tarrin." _"Yes, Ashamar."_

**Thank you for reading, If you enjoyed please favorite and review. It was fun making this and I plan to continue it to the best of my ability. The next chapters will be longer, this one was just an introduction, as the title says. Thanks again. :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Order's Search

The Shadowed Coin

Chapter 2: The Orders Search

The Next Day

I was in the middle of my meal when Reever called over to me. "Allen, Komui wants to see you." "What for?" I called back to him. "A mission. That's all he said." I ate up one more drumstick and then headed off to Komui's office.

When I opened up the door, I noticed Lenalee and Lavi by Komui's desk. Lenalee and Komui seemed to be having an argument. "But it's so pretty, and I want you to be safe." "I don't you watching me through a fluorescent pink golem! Besides, I can take care of myself." Lavi turned and saw me. "Oh Allen, there you are." Lenalee and Komui stopped arguing for a second to turn to me. "Allen your here, good." I stepped towards them. "What were you arguing about?" I asked. "Nothing." Lenalee said quickly. "Anyways, now that your here, I can explain the mission. Kanda get over here." I turned and saw Kanda walk out of the corner. "Beansprout." "Bakanda" We glared at each other for a second, then turned back to Komui.

"We need you four to find someone." We all looked at each other for a second. _Oh, God no._ "Is it General Cross?" asked Lavi. "No, it's someone else,"_Thank God_. "But he did disappear around the same time as Cross." "Did they know each other?" asked Lenalee. "Not very well, no. He's an Exorcist, age 22, by the name of Ashamar Triyk." "Ashamar?" she asked. "Yes, did you know him?" "Not very well, but I did see him around a few times."

"He disappeared four years ago after a mission. He and two other Exorcists went to find an innocence in a forest somewhere near HQ. Both Exorcists with him were found dead, and he was nowhere to be found." My eyes widened. "You think he killed them?" "It's possible. The night before the mission, someone heard voices coming from his room. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but there were more than one." "You think maybe it was the Noahs." Lavi said thoughtfully. "Maybe they tricked him into killing the Exorcists." "We thought of that too. But we find it very hard to believe that he could've been tricked." "Why?" Kanda asked. "It sounds pretty believable to me."

"Kanda," Komui said, annoyed. "Ashamar has been with the order since he was four years old. He's been here longer than any of us and he always thought of the Order as home. He thought of everyone here as family. Even more, His younger brother and sister are also here." I was surprised at that. "If he had a brother and sister here, then why would he leave?" I asked. "We don't know, but that's what we need you four to find out. Your job is to find him and bring him back here." I thought about it for a second. "But Komui, Lavi and I have never even seen him before."

"We chose all the Exorcists we had on standby. If we wait any longer, he'll get away again." "Why do you need all of us to find one person, anyway?" Lavi asked, confused by the whole dilemma. "We have reason to believe that Ashamar would try to escape by any means, including fighting you." "Then just send me, I'll beat him to a pulp" Kanda said. "Wow, your cocky Kanda." I said jokingly. "I should beat you to a pulp too, Beansprout." "It's Allen." I said, irritated.

"Kanda!" Komui said angrily. "You could not beat him on your own. Like I said, he's been here longer than all of us. When he left, his synchronization rate was 94%. He also knows yours and Lenalee's fighting styles, having seen you both train in the past." Lenalee looked surprised. "He watched us train?" she asked. "He is a very cautious person. He wanted to make sure he had a way to take down anyone who got in his way. Lavi and Allen are going for the reason that he doesn't know them, so he can't know their abilities." I nodded.

He seems like a very important person to the Order, seeing as how prepared they are to find him. "Then, Shouldn't you send people who actually know him." Kanda said, irritated. "We are. Rosalia, Krio, get over here. As he said that, a girl and a boy came into the room. The boy looked to be about the same age as me. He had short black hair and a pale complexion. His uniform included a silver colored shirt under a buttoned jacket. He was also wearing leather pants and sneakers.

The girl was probably about a year younger than me. She had curled red hair that went down past her shoulders. She was also of a pale complexion. Her uniform looked more like black silk robes that went down to just above her ankles. She had a silver chain necklace with a black coin around her neck. In her right hand was a silver scepter with a large blue jewel in the top of it.

They looked at us with smiling faces, but I could tell they were hiding the sadness deep down. "Krio was brought to the order by Ashamar after he found out that Krio was the Innocence's accommodator." Komui said respectfully. "Rosalia, is Ashamar's sister." My jaw dropped. "Wait a second. Both Ashamar and his sister are Exorcists!" "Our brother too." Rosalia said happily. "It's never happened before." Komui said, Mystified. "Three children from the same family, all accommodators of Innocence."

"Anyway, these two obviously know Ashamar very well, they'll know where to find him." "You still haven't told us where he is." Lavi said. "Oh right. We heard reports in a village in Northern Italy of an akuma being destroyed by a man who fits the description of Ashamar. We assume he is heading south. We need you to start you search as soon as possible. "Yes," Shouted Rosalia gleefully. "I want to find brother as soon as possible."

.

.

.

"Well, we're off!" I said as we sailed through the tunnel. Lavi was steering the boat down stream while the rest of us just sat down talking. Well, Some of us were talking. Kanda just sat there and went to sleep with that annoyed expression on his face. "Ashamar would never kill another Exorcist." Rosalia said suddenly. "huh?" I said, surprised at the comment. "The two Exorcists that died on that mission four years ago, he would never kill them."

"You really think so?" Lavi asked. "It sounds pretty likely that he-" "He wouldn't!" she said angrily. "Ashamar isn't like that." Krio said calmly, putting his hand on her shoulder. He may not have always been nice to everyone, but he cared. He would never-" he stopped suddenly. "What's wrong?" Lenalee asked. "Well, there was one time...when he was different."We all turned to him. "What do you mean 'different'" Lavi asked him. "I'm not entirely sure myself. It was a few days before he left, we were on our way back to the order from a mission. On the way we were attacked by akuma, lot's of them. They were very powerful, they were more powerful than level 2's, they were level 3's.

.

.

.

"Krio, stay back!" Ashamar screamed to me. "Close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you too!" I did as he told me and closed my eyes. My body ached, I could barely move. "I'm afraid to die." "Don't be," He said to me. "You won't die today." "HAHAHAHA!" The laughter of the akuma sent chills down my body, I was scared, I didn't want Ashamar to die. "You really think you can beat us on your own. There are ten of us, you can never beat us, Ashamar Triyk." My heart stopped, _How do they know his name?_

"Heh, your right," "eh?" the akuma said, confused. "But I'm not alone. We will kill you together." I heard the sound of wind blowing strongly and the trees around us breaking. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ashamar screamed in pain. "Ashamar!" I screamed. He's dying, and I can't help him. "Hahahaha." said a deep dark voice. Who is that? That's not one of the akuma, and why is he laughing. "Ten you say." said the new voice. "That shouldn't be too hard. Heh." I heard an explosion and the screaming of akuma.

"Is that Innocence!?" screamed one of the akuma. "That's not Innocence, the Earl said his Innocence was in the blades." said another . "Then what is it!?" screamed a third. "Hahahahahaha, Is that all the Earl told you? I guess he doesn't know everything after all, Tarrin." Who is that? Who is Tarrin? What's happening? I was tempted to open my eyes and see what was happening. _I need to see what's happening. I need to open my eyes. "Don't open your eyes" _said Ashamar's voice. _Ashamar? "Don't open your eyes, Krio. It will all be over soon."_

**Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed please favorite and review. It is a pleasure to make these, this my first story on this website (did I forget to mention that last time?). Critique the chapter if you feel the need, just don't be excessively mean about it. Thanks again, Enjoy the rest of your day. :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Lost Memories

**The Shadowed Coin**

**Chapter 2: Lost Memories**

"After that, he told me to open my eyes. The akuma were all gone, the trees were all knocked down, and the owner of that mysterious voice was nowhere to be seen. Just me and Ashamar." Everything went quiet after that. Everyone just watched Krio as if they'd just seen a ghost. "That sure is a strange story." Lavi said, breaking the silence. "Did you tell anyone else about this." asked Allen. "No, I didn't want anyone to be suspicious of Ashamar, and then a few days later, he disappeared."

Krio looked down at the floor of the boat. "I just wanted to protect him, like he did for me." He said, saddened. "It's alright, Krio." Lenalee said comforting him. "We all have something we want to protect." "But that name," I said, as they all look towards me. "Tarrin. It sounds familiar. I've heard Ashamar say that name before, but when." I sat there thinking to myself. "Don't think too hard about it, Rosalia." Lavi said waking me from my thoughts. "We'll find all the answers in Italy. From Ashamar himself."

.

.

.

A few hours later

"Well, we're here" I said, looking around at the port side town and the beautiful sea. "Now, to find when the next ship leaves." _"I hope it's soon. We need to get out of Europe as fast as possible."_ "Yeah, the Earl probably knows about the akuma from yesterday. If he cares as much as the akuma said, then he's probably sent more out searching for us."

I walked over to a man at the edge of the bay. "Sir." I called out to him. "hmm? Yes, what do you want." Do you know when the next boat leaves?" "Umm, tomorrow I think." "Thank you." _"Well, I guess we have some time. Let's check at one of the inns and get some sleep." _Yeah, I could really use some sleep right about now."

We walked down the street a ways and found our way to one of the inns. We walked in and over to the counter. "Um, mam." I said to the women behind the counter. "Yes?" I put some money on the counter. "Some dinner and a room please." "Right away sir, here's a key, the dinner will be right up." "Thank you." I walked up the steps and up to my room. I walked and immediately fell into bed. "Ahhh, finally. We haven't slept since that incident with the akuma, it's good to be back in bed." _"Yeah, and in the morning, we get on a boat to America and hopefully they'll lose our trail."_ "Yeah, continue to run away. I said depressingly.

I took off my coat and unbuttoned my shirt and put them on the end table. I looked in my bag to see what I still had. "A few bits of bread, an apple, and...my old uniform. I feel all nostalgic every time I see that old thing." _"Don't do this again." "_What?" _"Getting all mopey about the past, it's really annoying." _he said irritably. "I'm not mopey" I retorted. I layed there for a minute, thinking while Tarrin started whistling in my head. "It reminds me of my very first mission in the Order."

.

.

.

12 years ago

"Ashamar, you are to go to the village of Merriden in England in search of an Innocence. Understand." "Yeah, I do." "We will send three finders with you to assist since we have no spare exorcists at the moment. You are to retrieve the innocence and kill any akuma that get in the way. Understood?" "Yes" "Then get going."

I walked down to the exit tunnel, when I got there, sure enough, there were three finders waiting there for me. They were all about 18 years old. I was a little uncomfortable having to go on a mission with three people much older than me. "Hello, you must be Ashamar. Nice to meet you. My names Michael, these two are Jorge and Alex. "Pleasure to meet you" said Alex. "Are you sure this is the right guy?" asked Jorge. "I mean, I expected him to be taller." "He's ten, Jorge. How big could you possibly expected him to be?"

"Um, we should get going." I said nervously. "Ah, your right." Michael responded. "Everyone, in the boat." He helped me on board as Jorge grabbed the oar and started rowing us out. "So," Alex said trying to start up a conversation. "How does it feel to go on your first mission, Ashamar." "A little, um, uh, what's the word?" "Strange." Michael finished. "Yeah, thats it. So, when should we get to Merridan?" "If were quick about it, a little less than a day."

We passed the time by telling stories and playing cards. I was surprisingly good at it too, either that or Alex and Michael were just really bad. Once we finally got there, Jorge parked the boat on the bank and we all got off. "I guess that's the village over there?" "Yup, that's it. Now let's get going before that innocence gets away from us, shall we." I nodded and we headed off to the village.

We asked around town a bit and looked for anything strange. "Anything Mysterious?" said one lady we were asking. "Yeah," I said, people disappearing, strange things showing up, anything like that." "Well, there is one thing." I waited for her to continue. "For the past few days, theres been this mist coming over our village in the night. Last night, I saw something in the mist, a large animal with glowing green eyes, When it saw me, it ran off into the forest, and the mist followed it."

"Mist, eh?" Jorge said. We were meeting at the inn to discuss what we'd found. "Yeah, There was also something about a large animal with green eyes. Think it could be what we're looking for?" "It sounds like it." Michael said stuffing a slice of pork into his mouth. "Maph, fis fud I gud!" Do you know what the word manners means, Michael?" Alex asked laughing. "Okay, Michael and I will check it out in the morning, you and Jorge get some sleep."

"I'll go with you." I said Readily. No, no, you need to be ready when we find out whatever this 'animal' is. It could be an akuma." "Then that's all the more reason I should go with you, it could be dangerous." "Don't worry about them," Jorge assured me. "They'll be fine." "But-" I stopped myself and looked up at the big mans eyes. They were protective, determined. He wanted to make sure this mission went as smoothly as possible. "okay." He smiled, "Now then, let's all get some rest."

When we all got out of our uniforms and into bed, it felt like everything was going to be fine. This was a great day: I made new friends, I went on my first mission, and we've almost found the innocence. "It's great isn't it?" Michael said happily. He turned to me and smiled. "What is?" I asked. "Today, the mission, everything. You've done really well today, Ashamar. For your first mission, I'd say it's a job well done." "I hope so." Alex was looking out the window at the stars.

"After this mission, I'm going to see my sister at the foster home. She's been writing me all the time, asking the next time i'll be down there. I keep telling her I can't go just yet, but she just keeps asking." How about you Ashamar, how's your family?" I looked up at the ceiling. "I don't have one." Michael looked surprised. "What do you mean, everyone has a family, a mother and a father." Well, I don't remember them at all, so it's pretty much like they don't exist. The Orders the closest thing to a family that I have." I turned and smiled at him. "Including you guys."

I fell asleep after that. In my dream there was a dark shadow. It was laughing maniacally. There was a person behind the shadow and when I looked closer I could see the features more clearly, and I gasped. _That's me,_ I thought to myself, _That's me making that shadow._ "Light and darkness," Said a voice. "Heads and Tails," "Who's there." I called out. "Two sides of the Shadowed coin. The future is at hand, child, and you will be right in the middle of it."

I woke up with a start. I sat there panting for a moment. _What was that? What was it talking about? 'Two sides of the Shadowed Coin'. What does that mean?_ All these thoughts flew through my head like a tornado. I looked up and noticed all the beds were was dark outside. "How long was I asleep?"

I put on my clothes and walked downstairs. When I got down there I noticed someone outside staring off into the distance...Jorge? I opened up the front door and went outside. "Jorge." He turned, the expression on his face was one of worry. "What happened?" Michael and Alex went off into the forest and haven't returned yet." My eyes lit up. "Dammit, I knew I shoud've gone with them! Let's go Jorge, we're going to see what's going on, they might be in trouble." He nodded, and we ran into the forest.

" we've been searching for ten minutes, where could they possibly be." Jorge wondered. "I don't know but we-" I stopped "What's wrong?" "Shhhhh. Look." I pointed towards a large cloud of mist and a large creature inside. "Ahahahahahahaha!" screamed someone in the distance. "There you are Innocence! I found you! Hahahahahaha!" then at that moment, an akuma came hurtling into the creature. As the Creature screamed in pain, the akuma ripped something out of the animal, and then the animal dissolved.

"Haha! I found it, the Innocence, I found it! I guess I don't need you two after all." He tossed two finders to the ground, they groaned in pain as they hit the ground. "Michael, Alex!" Jorge screamed over to them. The akuma turned to us and smiled evilly. "More of them. Great! I haven't had this much fun in a long while. I guess I get to kill you too." It was tall, with metallic gray skin, giant butterfly wings, large claws, and on its right arm, instead of a hand, it had a large hole on the end.

"Jorge! Get Michael and Alex and get out of here!" "But Ashamar-" "Now! I'll take care of this freak." The akuma's smile got even bigger. "Will you now, I don't think a child could me in a fight." I grinned. "Well this child would prove you wrong." It flew up in the air with it's large wings and swooped down on me.

I pulled Luna out from my belt. "Innocence, Activate!" The bright glow of Luna burned the akuma's eyes and gave me the chance to strike. "Starlight Precision!" I threw both my blades straight at the akuma and they cut off it's wings. As it fell to the ground, Luna flew back to my hands and jumped up and over to the akuma. I landed right on its chest and stabbed my blades into both of his shoulders. I ripped the blades out as I was about to strike again, he raked his claws across my face, and I sliced his hand right off.

I was about to strike again when fire began to spew out of the hole in his right arm. I tried to dodge but it burned right through my left shoulder. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He kicked me off onto my back and stood up over me. "Hahahahaha, I told you that you couldn't win. You were never a match for me, hahaha!" "I wouldn't celebrate just yet, freak." He looked down at me and suddenly Luna was embedded in his head. "I forgot to tell you," I looked up at him with a grin on my face. "I never miss." *BOOM*

"Jorge!" He looked up at me and his eyes widened. "Ashamar, your arm!" "It'll be fine, there'll be a scar, but it'll be fine. How are they? "Ash...a...mar." "Michael! You'll be fine! We'll patch you up right away!" "Ashamar." "What is it?" "I am proud...to be...your family." Black pentacles suddenly appeared all over their bodies and they soon crumbled and turned to dust. I looked down at the newly formed pile of dust and a tear fell from my eye. "Me too, me too."

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please favorite and review. It's very fun writing these and I hope you like them so I can continue. Thanks again :)**


	4. Chapter 4: Lost and Found

**The Shadowed Coin**

**Chapter 4: Lost and Found**

It was a long awaited rest, and just long in general really. It felt like I was asleep forever. But I woke up to some bad news.

_"Ah, crap."_ I opened my eyes and stretched out my arms. "What's wrong?" I asked. _"Look outside."_ He sounded irritated, and possibly a bit worried. I looked out the window and it seemed to be raining. Wait, no, it was worse, it was storming. "Dammit, this is gonna hold up the ship is't it. This is the worst possible timing!" I was pissed. That boat was our best chance of getting out of here. _"Your telling me, I don't think we can wait for the storm to let up. We need to move as soon as possible." _"That may be, but if we continue on our current path, someone is bound to catch up with us." _"Then what do you advise?"_

I was worried, we can't continue and we can't go back. That boat was, and still is, our best chance to escape from the akuma. "We wait." Tarrin sounded surprised. _"Wait? If we stay here they'll catch up to us for sure."_ He paused for a second _"Unless-" _"Unless we hide." I finished. "without the uniform, it should be hard for the akuma to notice us." _"So, where do we hide?" _"Anywhere should do. As long as we don't make it obvious of who we are, they should just look at us like another human."Tarrin huffed in agreement. This a lot to hope for, but hope is about all we have.

.

.

.

Two days later

We were riding down the road in a carriage, just past Ashamar's last known location. "So where exactly are we going?" Rosalia asked. "A port side town by the name of Eericas." Lavi said. "He's probably trying to get of Italy by boat, so this is the best place to find him." "But we're probably a few days behind him, wouldn't he have already left by now." I asked. "No, Beansprout." Kanda answered irritably. "This storm has probably delayed the departure of the ships, so he's either moved on, or he's waiting in town."

I sighed. It's been a bad few days. First, this horrible storm started and hasn't let up since. Second, we've come across several groups of akuma, all heading in the same direction as us. Third, we haven't had anything to eat since yesterday.

"When should we get there?" I asked. "Really soon." Lenalee answered happily. I sighed a breath of relief. "Thank God, i'm hungry." She laughed lightly. "Your always hungry, Allen." "Maybe if you didn't half of our rations, we'd still have food to eat." Kanda said bitterly." "You can't blame him, Kanda. It's not his fault he eats so much." Lavi said jokingly. "I just hope we find him soon." Rosalia said, with a determined look on her face. "I want to make sure brother's okay." "I'm sure he'd be fine without our help." Krio said, with a small grin on his face. "No matter what you throw at that guy, he just gets right back up again. Whether it be a dozen akuma, or the fact that he actually has siblings."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked him. He looked at me an smiled. "Oh, I guess you guys didn't know this, but I guess we'll tell you the story." He bumped Rosalia with his elbow. "Oh, right." she said. "My brother and I were born after Ashamar was taken to the Order. He never even remembered our parents because he was so young when they took him. But when we were born, Ashamar was never told." She smiled "When we first came through the entrance to HQ, he was there talking to Komui. When we came in, he turned to us in surprise."

"He asked Komui, 'Who are the kids?'". Krio continued. "'Those are your siblings' he answered. 'I HAVE SIBLINGS!', Ashamar screamed." He stopped and laughed for a few seconds. "The look on his face was priceless!" He said while laughing. "How old were you guys at the time?" I asked Rosalia. "I was six and Ashamar was 14. Talimal was seven." "Who's Talimal?" "Oh, he's my brother. Actually, he's a Parasitic type like you, Allen." "He eats about as much as well." Krio said, a bit more calmed down from his laughter.

We all laughed for a while, then when we quieted down, Lavi spoke up, more serious. "Hey Allen," "Yeah?" "Do you the akuma that attacked us earlier...do you think they were after Ashamar?" I thought about it. _It's possible_, I thought to myself. "Because, weren't they all heading to the same place as us...to Ashamar's location." We all looked up. "I think so." He said, worried. "Don't you remember Krio's story from before?" Krio's eyes lit up. "They knew his name." Krio said, his eyes shaking. "They attacked us right after our mission, when we were weakened. They knew that his innocence was in his blades. They knew-" "Yeah." Lavi interrupted him.

"From what you told us, about that mysterious voice and the whole forest being taken down, there's a lot more to Ashamar that we don't know." Rosalia gasped. "I remember! I remember where I heard Tarrin from!" "You do!?" We said surprised. "When I heard the voices outside of Ashamar's room, he was talking to someone named Tarrin. The voice with said...he said..." She started to cry. She put her head head in her hands while Krio tried to comfort her. "He said...that they needed to leave."

.

.

.

When we finally got to town, we all piled out of the carriage and walked down the street. "How the Hell is it still raining!?" Kanda screamed in anger. "Maybe this is the world's way of telling you to be a nicer person." I said smugly. "Shut the Hell up." "Calm down you two." Lavi said, willfully. "Besides, if it's still raining, that means the ships still haven't left." "Which means Ashamar is still here." Lenalee finished.

We went over to one of the inns and signed in. "Finally, we get to eat!" I said with enthusiasm. I scarfed down my meal before anyone else even touched there food. "It's delicious!" I said, wiping my mouth with a napkin. "Allen, the way you eat, your going to hurt yourself one of these days." Lenalee said jokingly. "nah." I said. "I'm serious, try and eat a bit slower." "Anyway, when should we start the search?" I asked everyone.

"In the Morning." Lavi answered with a drumstick stuffed in his mouth. "Oh my God, Lavi! Your worse than Allen!" He swallowed. "Come on Lenalee, I can't possibly be that bad. Allen eats like 50 servings." "I don't eat that mu-" "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" I looked up. "What was that?" Lenalee asked. "I don't know, but whoever it is, they sound like they're in pain." Lavi stood up. "I'll go see" he proceeded to walk up the stairs. "No!" screamed the innkeeper as she appeared from behind the counter.

"You can't go up there!" We looked at her. "Why not?" Lavi asked suspiciously. "If there's something wrong then someone should fix it." "Can you at least tell us who it is up there screaming." I asked her. "He's a guest, like you. He arrived three days ago. Earlier today, he came back in a hurry, he looked like he was hurt. I asked him what was wrong, but he just told me not to go into his room or let anyone else in there no matter what. I cannot violate my guest's wishes."

We all looked at each other. "What is his name?" Lenalee asked her. "He didn't say." Krio suddenly spoke up. "Did he have a scar down the right side of his face, like he'd been scratched by claws, and a large burn mark on his left shoulder?" "Yes, in fact he did." Did he have Midnight Blue hair, and a black crecent moon on his forehead?" Rosalia asked quickly. "Yes, he did." "Mam, would you please allow us to enter his room." I asked. "We are searching for this man." "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" There were the screams again. "Ashamar!" Rosalia screamed, and she bolted up the stairs.

"Rosalia, wait!" Krio screamed. "Okay, you can go." The Innkeeper said suddenly. "Anything to stop that screaming!" She sounded like it caused her pain. It must hurt to hear the screams of pain and not be able to do anything about it. "Thank you Miss." Then we ran up the stairs.

When we got there, Rosalia had already opened up the door. She was just standing there, watching in horror. "Rosalia!" I screamed. "What's wrong?" She could barely open her mouth. "Asha...mar?" I looked through the door and what I saw, was horrifying.

There was a man on his knees, clutching his head. There was a shadowy aura surrounding him like black mist. He had a black jacket over a gray t-shirt. He had brown pants and black dress shoes. He had a dark brown belt, and strapped to it were two crescent moon shaped blades.

Everyone else arrive behind us to see what was happening. "Ashamar!" Krio screamed and rushed in front of us. "What...what is this? Are you okay, Ashamar!?" He rushed towards him. The Shadowy aura around Ashamar suddenly changed. It turned into a large orb and formed itself around Ashamar. As soon as Krio got close to it, it pulsed, and sent him flying back to us.

"Krio!" I screamed. Ashamar turned to us, and when I thought it couldn't get any scarier, it did. His eyes were pitch black, and when I looked into them, I saw images. I saw shadowy man that looked black smoke swirling around a person. Extending from his shoulders were Pure black Angelic wings. He looked like a dark Angel. Behind him was a Full Moon.

The image faded, then another one appeared. It was a dreary gray landscape, with a single tree. The tree looked dead, all the leaves had fallen, but it strangely looked like it could live forever, like it was trying to survive on its own, without the leaves. In the sky was another Full moon, and in its light was a small boy. The boy was staring up at the moon, I couldn't see exactly what he looked though. In the boys hand were two black coins, and there was another around his neck. Behind the boy was a large shadow. It looked like it was laughing. After that the image faded.

Ashamar's eyes changed, they changed to the color of normal eyes, and they were silver, like mine. His eyes widened, as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare. The shadowy orb around him disappeared as if had never been there. _There's more to Ashamar than we know._ Lavi was right, Ashamar is different, he is no normal Exorcist.

He stood up, and he backed away from us slowly. "Why are you here?" He asked us cautiously. "We are here to bring you back to the Order, Ashamar." I answered compassionately, hoping not to scare him off. He seemed more shaken up by what happened than any of us. _I wonder what he saw? Did he see the same images as me? _Then the look on his face changed, he looked more calm and collected, then he looked at us and he grinned.

"Did they really need to send six Exorcists just to bring me back? I guess everyone thinks we're important now." He smiled smugly. He knows something we don't. "We?" I asked. He ignored me. "Lenalee, Kanda, you've grown up. I wonder if you've gotten better at combat as well." "Wanna try me?" Kanda pulled out his sword. "Because I'd be glad to kick your ass." Ashamar held up his hands. "Whoa there, no need to be hasty." He scratched his head.

"You really haven't changed one bit, Kanda, have you. This is probably why Alma tried to kill you all those years ago." He said smugly. Kanda's expression changed to one of anger. "Why you!?" He charged Ashamar with his sword. Ashamar pulled out his blades and caught the sword in the curve of his blade. He laughed quietly for a split second. "Not one bit." He said as he swiped at the hilt of his sword. Kanda jumped backwards, but not before Ashamar pulled the sword right out of his hands.

"He...disarmed Kanda." Lenalee said, eyes wide. "With one move." Lavi continued. Ashamar picked up the sword and looked at it. "So this is Mugen, is it? It is a very well made blade, but, I would expect nothing less from old man Zhi. Here." He tossed the sword to Kanda. He caught it, and looked at Ashamar, surprised. "Give him my regards next time you see him, will you."

He turned to Lavi. "You, with the eyepatch, what's your name?" Lavi looked him in the eyes. "It's Lavi, or Junior, if you prefer." Lavi grinned. "I fixed you for a psycho when I saw you screaming in hear, not a powerful fighter." Ashamar smiled happily, and took a bow. "Why thank you kindly."

He turned to me. "And you, I've never seen you before, though I have an idea." "You do?" I said in surprise. "Your Allen Walker, right? The boy who was cursed by his foster father after turning him into an akuma." I was shocked. "How did you-" "I know things, Including your history. Though your master didn't talk about you in the brightest light, he did tell me about your history. Of course, i'm not I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone what he told me." I didn't like the way he said that.

Then he turned to Krio. "Krio, old friend, how have you been? I trust everything has been fine at the order. You haven't blown up Jerry's Kitchen again have you?" He laughed. Krio blushed at the part about Jerry's Kitchen. "You blew up his kitchen?" I asked him. "It was an accident! Jerry was trying to teach me how to cook, and it kind of got...out of hand." We laughed a little at it, and asked silly questions, teasing him.

Finally, Ashamar looked at Rosalia, he smiled at her sadly. "Rosalia." "Brother." She ran up to him and hugged her as hard as she could. "I missed you so much! I cried for days and the only person there for me was Talimal, Everything was different without you!" He held her tight and patted her head. "It's okay, it's okay, there's no need to cry. You still had Talimal, right?" "But we missed you! When you left, we felt like we couldn't survive. You were always there to comfort us, always there to protect us! We didn't want to live without you." She looked up to his eyes. "Why did you leave us, Brother?"

The tears in her eyes were running down her face like all the sadness was finally being lifted from her heart. "I left...because I had to." "That's a shitty excuse." Kanda said behind me. "You left your family and everyone who cared about you, why did you leave? What happened that day with the Exorcists?" He said angrily. Ashamar's smile changed, he looked sad. "I can't tell you that." He said it with regret. Kanda grunted angrily. "Why not! Did you kill-" Kanda stopped suddenly. Ashamar's eyes turned black again, and he looked angry.

"You wouldn't understand!" His voice changed to a much deeper and darker voice. Then suddenly, his eyes changed back, and his voice was normal again. "It wasn't a choice I got to make." He said it with such sadness, he sounded like he hated to recall the day. Kanda glared at him for a few more seconds, then he grunted and walked away. "That voice..." I turned around to see Krio looking like he'd seen a ghost. "Krio?" I asked. "That's the voice... from that day...when I closed my eyes. "Krio," Ashamar said compassionately. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. Don't worry about it." Krio looked at him, and he seemed to calm down.

"I'm sorry, all of you, but I can't go back." We looked at him. "What do you mean? You need to come with us." "Brother?" "If I go back, I will be killed." You don't know that!" I said. "Don't I? If the Order believes that I killed my fellow Exorcists, I will be accused of heresy, and their only punishment for heresy, is death." He said bitterly. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to die just yet." "You won't be killed!" I said, determined. He raised his eyebrow at me. "I can assure you of that."

He smiled. "Very well then. I shall return with you to the Order." "Huh? That's it. I thought you didn't want to die?" He laughed a little. "You just said I wouldn't, didn't you? If I know you right, Allen, I know your a man of his word. If you say I won't die, then I'll believe you." "Really, Brother. You'll come back!?" She said excitedly. "Yes, sister. I will come back. Besides, I'm tired of running."

**Thank you all for reading. If you enjoyed, please favorite, review and all the usual stuff. I have a proper schedule now, I will post a new chapter every Saturday, starting today. Keep reading, and have a nice day :)**


	5. Chapter 5: The Two Returns

The Shadowed Coin

Chapter Five: The Two Returns

The storm was still going at it, pretty hard I might add. When they came in to my room, they awakened me from that horrible nightmare. I believed Allen when he said I wouldn't be killed. I believed that if he said so, I could go back...back to my home. It was about time I returned anyway, I've been gone for way too long. "Besides, I'm tired of running."

They were all surprised that I agreed so easily, but I guess that makes sense, they were probably told that I'd try to fight them in order to escape. I don't think the order will let me back that easily though. _"You sure this is the best choice?" _Tarrin asked me. _No, but i'm willing to take my chances. "Considering what they just saw, I doubt they actually trust us." Heh, it's understandable. I mean, I wouldn't trust me if I were them. "Well, I do want to go back. Although, if they found out what we were-" I know, they would kill us on sight._

We took a carriage back to HQ. The entire time, Rosalia was hugging me, still with tears in her eyes. It had been about ten minutes before anyone actually spoke, and sadly, what they said was something I really didn't want to hear.

"Ashamar," asked Lavi. I looked up at him. "I know you probably don't want to hear this but..." He stopped for a second, then he looked back up with a determined expression. "What happened back there?" I looked at him for a second, confused at the question, then realizing what he meant. "Oh, you guys saw that?" I put on a small smile. "You don't want to know what that was." They looked at me. "What do you mean?" Allen asked me.

_ "You can't tell them!" _Tarrin screamed in my head. _I know, don't worry about it. But we can't hide it forever. If they saw what happened... _There was no need to continue, I knew he understood. "I'm sure we'd understand." Lenalee assured me. "If there's something wrong with you, we need to help you." She sounded compassionate. "It's not something you can fix." I said with a pained expression. "It has happened before, a few times in the past." I stopped myself. _I can't tell them much more than that._ I thought to myself.

"Allen," I said trying to change the subject. He looked up. "Yes?" "What did you see?" He looked confused. "What did I see? What do you mean?" I sighed. "When you looked into my eyes, did you see anything?" His eyes widened, realizing what I meant. "I saw..." He stopped. Hie looked horrified, as if the image was to much to bear. "I see." I said, a hint of sadness in my voice. I leaned in towards him and whispered. "Whatever you saw, I ask you keep to yourself." He looked at me, then nodded. Everyone else looked at us, obviously confused. Of course, they had no idea what I was talking about.

I leaned away from him and patted my sister's head. She looked up at me, wiping the tears out of her eyes. When I looked at her, I noticed the black coin on a necklace around her neck. I grabbed it lightly with my hand. "I see you still have my gift." I smiled. "I expected you to get rid of it by now." She looked shocked. "How could I get rid of it!" She screamed at me. "It was all I had to remember you with." She stopped and another tear fell from her eye.

"You said..." She grabbed the coin and held it between her hands. "You said as long as I had this...You would always be with me." Allen looked suspiciously at the coin. "What is it?" He asked. I smiled gently at him. "It's my Shadowed Coin."

I looked at Ashamar strangely. "Shadowed Coin?" I asked. "It's the second in a set of three. The third is with our brother." He reached into his jacket and pulled out another coin, almost identical to the one Rosalia had. "I made them." he said, handing me the coin. "Take a look." I grabbed the coin in my right hand and looked at it closely. On one side, it had a Full Moon, and when I flipped it over, I could see that on the other side, was the shape of a key.

I put the coin into my left had, and when I did, it started to emit a dark shadowy aura, just like the one that was around Ashamar. It began to engulf my arm and I started to freak out. "What's it doing!" I screamed, trying to swipe away the darkness. "Allen!" Lenalee screamed. We tried to get rid of the shadows but we couldn't do anything. Ashamar extended his hand to my mine and grabbed the coin out of my hand. As soon as he did, the shadows left, and went back into the coin.

I panted, trying to find words. "What was that!?" Lenalee screamed. "Allen, let me see your left hand." Ashamar said calmly. I was confused about why, but I complied. When he saw my hand he looked at it, and then picked it up in his own. "Ah." He said, coming to a conclusion. "This is your innocence, right?" I nodded. "That's why the coin attacked your arm. These coins hate the Innocence." He looked at the coin for a second, then he put it back in to his jacket.

"What do you mean 'they hate the Innocence'?" Lavi asked him curiously. Ashamar looked at him like he was an idiot. "That's exactly what it is, there's nothing more to it." Lavi looked offended at his response. "The coins have a mind of their own?" Lenalee asked him. "In a manner of speaking, yes. But they listen only to their creator, that creator being me."

"If they listen to you, can't you tell them not to hate the Innocence?" Lavi asked him, irritated by how he responded before. Ashamar sighed, annoyed at Lavi's stupidity. Then he chuckled. "Your really not the brightest are you?" Lavi looked angry. "Hey-" Ashamar waved his hand. "They may listen to me, but they still have their own will." He stated. "They hate the Innocence out of their own will, not mine."

Suddenly, the carriage stopped and my left eye activated. "Akuma!" I screamed. We all activated our Innocence and ran out the back of the carriage to meet the enemy. When I saw who it was, I froze, apparently Lenalee had the same reaction. "Hello, Allen." Said the little Noah girl. "Road." I screamed, breaking out of my shock. "Hey, Beansprout," Kanda said. I turned to him, irritated at the name. "What?" I asked him. "Is that a member of the Noah Clan?" I nodded.

"That's Road Kamelot." Said a voice behind me. I turned to see Ashamar just stepping out of the carriage, his Innocence unactivated. "She's the 8th disciple of the Noah clan, the Noah of Dreams." He smiled and Road smiled back. "So you are here." She said with curiosity. "I thought you ran away after that incident with you and Wisely." When she said the name Wisely, Ashamar's smile faded. "Wisely?" I asked him. "He's another member of the Noah Clan, The Noah of Wisdom." He said, his eyes still fixed on Road.

Road looked at me. "Allen," she said cheerfully. "Do you mind if I borrow Ashamar for a while? The Earl has requested to see him." Our eyes all lit up. _The Earl? What does he want with Ashamar? And why does Ashamar know so much about the Noah Clan?_ A yell awakened me from my thoughts. "You can't take him!" Rosalia screamed, unwilling to part with her brother. "You'll just kill him, and I won't let that happen!" She sounded confident, but I could see the fear in her eyes. "Hahaha." Road laughed. "Kill him? Why would we kill him? The Earl just wants to talk with him." At the sound of this, Rosalia's expression changed to one of utter confusion.

We were all really confused by all this. _Why on Earth does the Earl want to _talk_ with Ashamar._ Kanda's grunt interrupted my thoughts. "Why shouldn't we just kill you here, get you out of the way." Kanda said with enthusiasm, very scary, murderous, enthusiasm. "You think we're dumb enough to send him with you?" He said with a hint of anger in his voice. "That's right!" Krio screamed at Road. "Why would we ever trust you, a Noah. You are our sworn enemy with the intention to kill the Exorcists and end the world. Why would we trust you." The look in his eyes was one of pure hatred, either towards the Noah, or the mere idea of letting Ashamar go with them. Then suddenly, Ashamar sighed.

"Calm down you two." He said in a very calm tone. He turned to Road. "I"ll go with you." He stated. We all looked at him like he was insane. "Brother!" Rosalia screamed in disagreement. "You can't, she'll kill you!" Krio screamed "You need to come back to the Order with us!" Lenalee screamed. He walked towards Road, past all the screaming Exorcists, then suddenly, he turned back to us. "I said I'd come back, didn't I?" He smiled lightly, then turned back to Roads door. "I might be a bit late," He said with a hint of laughter in his voice. "But I will get there eventually, hopefully in a day or two." He looked back over his shoulder and smiled, then he walked through the door. Road turned to me. "Goodbye Allen. I hope to see you soon."

We all stood there for a few minutes, bewildered by what had just transpired. Then I spoke up after breaking out of my daze. "Let's go." I said to the group of confused, surprised, and outright shocked group of Exorcists. They all looked at me. "He said he'll get back, and we shouldn't doubt him." Kanda's eyes lit up with fire. Well, not literally, but he looked pretty pissed. "We Shouldn't doubt him!?" He screamed in anger. "He just willingly left with a Noah to go 'talk' to the Millennium Earl, and he left with the same Noah that captured you and Lenalee before!" He turned to Lenalee. "Right?" He asked her, slightly calmed down. Lenalee just nodded.

We all just wondered about this for a minute. Everything Kanda said was very true, and extremely confusing, yet Ashamar was so calm about it. "There's no point in bickering about it, Kanda." We all turned to see Krio, completely calm. "There's nothing we can do now." He looked Kanda straight in the eyes, all emotion wiped from his face. "You remember what Komui said, right?" Kanda looked surprised. "Ashamar is a cautious person. He wouldn't have gone through with this ignorant of the consequences."

Kanda just looked at Krio for a few seconds, then the anger returned to his face. "But he can't possibly know the consequences!" He screamed in disagreement. "He can't know what will happen because we know absolutely nothing about the Noah Clan!" He stopped and panted for a few seconds. "Ashamar does." I said, surprising myself at the comment. Everyone's gaze turned to me. "What do you mean?" Lenalee asked me, curiously. I looked at the group. "Didn't you hear what he said?" I asked him. They all looked confused at the comment. "He called Road the Noah of Dreams."

Lavi's eyes(eye) lit up. "Oh right." He said, remembering what happened. "He also talked about another Noah named Wisely, one that we haven't even heard of." I nodded and looked at him. "You said it yourself, Lavi. There's more to Ashamar than we know." After a while pondering this, we all got back in the carriage and continued the trip back to the Black Order. _That's right._ I thought to myself. _Ashamar, how much are you hiding from us._

.

.

.

I looked around at the dark purple colored world that we were passing through. _Have any ideas_ I thought. _"About what?_ Tarrin responded. _About what the Earl wants to talk about. He probably didn't send Road after us just to make small talk. _There was a slight pause between us. _"I'm not sure." _He finally said. I sighed, and ended the conversation.

I looked down at the Noah girl. "So, Road." She looked up at me. "Yes?" She asked. "Are you guys still living at the Mansion, or have you changed locations?" She smiled happily, like she always does. "We're still at the mansion." She suddenly pouted, her expression becoming a bit more sad. "But nobody's ever there to play with me!" She suddenly screamed in annoyance. "Everyone's either out doing something or they're home and just don't want to play." She started jumping around and looked really bored.

Then, after a little while, she stopped and smiled, seeming to remember something. "It was fun playing with Allen, though." She said suddenly. I was surprised. "Allen?" I asked her. She looked at me while giggling about her recent experience with the white haired Exorcist. "Yeah!" She said with a huge smile on her face. "It was really fun. I really want to play with him again, though next time I should be a bit more delicate." I didn't like the way she said that. It was as if las time it ended a bit painfully for Allen. Of course, how couldn't it, this is Road we're talking about.

"I really want to play with him again." She said anxiously. Then she stopped and came to a realization. She looked at me, eyes wide. "What?" I asked her. She bit her lip to stop herself from excessively smiling and then she started jumping again. "What?" I repeated, this time with a bit of laughter hooking at my voice. "Oh, yes yes yes yes yes!" She sounded like she had too much sugar this time around. "Ashamar, Ashamar, please please please pleeeeeaaaaaaasssseee!" Whatever it was she wanted, she _really _wanted it.

I put my hands on her shoulders to stop her from jumping and then said with the straightest face I could, "Yes?" She calmed down a little, but her smile was as big as ever. "Could you ask Allen if he would play with me again." I was surprised and it probably showed on my face, because her expression changed again, and it wasn't as happy this time. "Pllleeeeeeeeaaaasssssseeee!" she said imploringly. "I'm not sure if I can do that-" She interrupted me.

"PLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSEEEEE!" She screamed, really, really loudly. "OKAY!" I said loudly to get over her screaming. She stopped and smiled. "I will ask Allen to play with you again, just don't scream anymore, I think my ears are ringing." I said jokingly. "Really?" She asked with big eyes. "Really." I responded. "Really, really?" She repeated. "Really, Really." I responded, again. She laughed lightly. "Really, really, re-" "YES!" I interrupted her. I smiled at her and she did the same. "Now, let's go see the Earl before he gets impatient. We want him sending out another search party like last time." I joked, then I stood straight up, at looked down the long path.

.

.

.

"Here we are." Road said as we got to another door. "The Earl is waiting on the other side." I sighed. "I hope we're not late." _"So do I, you remember what happened last time we were late to one of the Earl's meetings._ I shivered at the memory. _Some akuma, a broken dinner table, Lero lying on the floor in pain, a few murderous chickens and one really pissed off Millennium Earl. Yeah, I remember. "Ha, it was really funny though." Yeah until the murderous chickens tried to eat us and, when they calmed down, ruined my shoes with their evil, chicken talons. "What, do you have something against chickens now?" __No! Of course not. It was just really uncomfortable._

It was a little awkward having our silent conversation, Road standing right next to me, but she could tell when we were talking to each other, even though she can't hear us, and she knew not to interrupt us.

I did a small fake-cough to get Road's attention again, as she had started thinking about something. "Yes?" She said, snapping out of her dream state. "I'm ready to go in." I stated, regaining my state of mind. "Oh, right." She said. Then she snapped her fingers and the door flew open. "Let's go in." She said happily. I just smiled, and stepped through the open door.

What I saw was the dining room, exactly as I remembered it. There was a long rectangular table spanning across, almost, the entire room. There were fourteen seats in total, one for each member of the family, or that's how it used to be at least. The table was covered in a silky white table cloth and had shiny glass plates and silverware at each seat. The room itself didn't look much different from the path through Road's door. The walls and floor were a shadowy purple color. There several doors on either side of the room that lead to other parts of the mansion, such as the training room, the garden, and the individual rooms for each Noah.

_"Nothing has changed. It's exactly like it was all those years ago." _Tarrin said in awe. I looked around the room to see that only a few of the Noahs were actually here. There was the Earl, of course, at the far end of the table, Tyki Mikk, who was sitting on the center left side of the table in a nice black suit and top hat. He was reading a book with his feet up on the table. Across from him was Skinn Bollic, a really big, muscular guy with a long trench coat and a fedora. That was it, aside from Road who was standing next to me of course.

"I'm back!" Road screamed happily as she ran over to the Earl and hugged him. "I'm back, Millennie! I brought Ashamar like you said, oh I'm so happy right now!" She sounded like a little kid after a long trip away from home. At the moment, she seemed like the happiest person in the world, but of course, this was how she acted every time she got back. The Earl chuckled a little before picking Road off of him and telling her to take a seat. Then he looked at me, who was still standing by Road's door. "Welcome back, Ashamar." He said with his eternal smile. I grinned back at him. "It's good to be back, Earl.

"Take a seat." He said and gestured toward the seat opposite of him, and I simply nodded and made my way over to the chair. I sat down and he looked at me. "How long has it been, Ashamar?" _"Four years, two months, and seventeen days."_ Tarrin said in response. The Earl laughed lightly before speaking again. "I see our friend is still there with you." I chuckled a little. "It's not like he could leave." I said, a hint of laughter in my voice. "We're kind of stuck with each other in case you've forgotten.

Tyki looked up from his book. "I thought only you could hear Tarrin, right?" He asked me, seemingly confused. I shook my head. "Only Noahs and I can hear him, but he can choose when Noahs hear him, I always hear him." Tyki nodded and looked over at Road, who was still smiling happily. "What are you so happy about?" He asked her. She looked at him and her grin smile lightened a little. "Oh, just a little something Ashamar told me on our way here." She said smugly. Tyki looked at me, confused.

"What did you tell her?" He asked me, lifting his feet off the table and onto the floor. I smiled. "That's not important right now. What is important..." I turned my gaze to the Earl. "Earl, why did you call me here." He looked at me and his expression changed. He looked slightly annoyed about whatever reason he called me here. "I called you here because I was told you were going back to the Order." Everyone dropped what they were doing and looked at me, except for Road, who was still smiling.

"Well," The Earl said, breaking the silence. "Is it true? Are you going back to the Order?" I smiled at him, a bit of a nervous smile. "Yes." I finally said. "I am going back. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life running from them, so I'm going back. I know that might spell bad news for you, but trust me." They all looked at me with many different expressions. "I will not tell them anything about the akuma or the Noahs." This news seemed to lighten the looks on their faces, at least enough for them to calm down a little.

"Anything?" Tyki asked, not entirely believing me. "I won't tell them _anything_." I said, reassuringly. "Why should we believe you?" Skinn said with that natural growl in his voice. I pretended to look hurt and looked at him. "That is very mistrusting of you Skinn, your words wound me." Road started to laugh and Tyki broke into a grin. Skinn growled at them. "I'm serious!" He screamed in anger, or embarrassment from being laughed at.

I regained my composure and stopped joking with him. "I won't tell them anything that would endanger your plans for, um...what was it again?" Tyki spoke up. "We're trying to destroy the world." He said as if it wasn't a big deal. "Oh, right, that was it." I just nodded and sat there. Tyki looked so confused at my response, he seemed to space out. _"Hey, Tyki...Tyki? Hmm, oh I got it! Hey, Joydo!"_ As soon as Tarrin said 'Joydo', Tyki snapped out of his daze in a fit of anger. "Don't call me that! Call me Tyki!" I started laughing a little. _"I was just trying to wake you up."_ Tarrin said, trying to sound sincere, but he was doing a poor job of it.

"Anyways," I said, getting everyone's attention. "How is everybody?" I asked them. "Well," Tyki spoke up. "Sheryl left to do some 'business' a few days ago. Wisely went to sleep about ten hours ago after doing God knows what, and the Twins are-" He was interrupted by a voice behind one of the doors, followed by a laugh. "Oh god." I said to myself. The door flew open and out came a blond haired girl with weird stitch marks on her mouth and a light hanging in front of her head like an Angler Fish. Another girl came out of the door, she had short black hair and looked a lot less weird, but in reality, she wasn't. They were both pointing golden revolvers at each other.

"What were you saying about us?" Said Devitto, the black haired one. "Yeah, it better not have been bad, hehe." Said Jasdero, the other one. Tyki just sighed when they addressed him. "We were just telling Ashamar why nearly nobody was at the table." He said while gesturing towards me. They looked at me and I looked back. They were about to say something when another voice appeared from the doorway. "Jasdero! Devitto!" It screamed. Then another Noah popped out of the doorway. This one had white hair and a long turban, that went down past his waist, covering his forehead.

When he saw us he muttered something to himself, probably a reminder to kill the twins, that's what I'd say. "You two were supposed to stay in your room! You weren't supposed to disturb the meeting!" He screamed in a panic. "Hello Wisely." I waved to him. He calmed down a little and smiled. "Hello Ashamar. You're not still mad about that thing are you?" He said, a little worried. I laughed and he looked at me strangely. "It's been four years, Wisely. I was never mad to begin with." I said, still laughing, though a little more calmly now. Wisely sighed in relief.

"Ashamar!" Road suddenly spoke up. I looked at her surprised that she was still a part of this conversation. "Yes, Road?" I asked her. "The twins have been waiting all week to see you. They want to ask you something." I widened my eyes a little and looked at the twins. "All week? The Order only found me earlier today. How far in advance was this meeting planned, Earl?" I turned my gaze towards the Earl. He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, we were planning on meeting with you next week so the entire family could get a chance to meet you, but when I heard you were going back to the Order I had to see you immediately." I nodded and turned my gaze back to the twins.

"So," I said, looking the twins in the eyes. "What did you want to tell me?" At the sound of these words, their eyes widened and they got huge grins on their faces, not as big as the Earl's, but still pretty big. "We want to fight!" They said excitedly as my eyes widened in surprise. "You want to fight me?" I asked, making sure I heard them right. "Yes! Whenever your name comes up, someone always makes a big deal out of it, hehe." Jasdero said. "We want to prove that your not as strong as everyone says." Devitto said, narrowing her eyes at me in challenge.

"No!" Wisely suddenly screamed. We all turned to him. "You can't fight him, you will most definitely lose." he said, worried. Then Devitto and Jasdero laughed liked crazy people. "Your only saying that-" Devitto started. "Because he beat you all those years ago, hehe." Jasdero finished. "Exactly!" Wisely responded, surprising everyone with his modesty. "He beat me after a long fight with the akuma and ended up killing the other two Exorcists-" "Wisely!" I screamed in anger. My eyes turned completely black for a few seconds to express my anger. When it faded I spoke up, "I don't like remembering that day." I said, a hint of sadness in my voice.

After a few minutes of silence, I speak up. "I should go." I said, all the previous emotions wiped from my face. "Time passes faster here, correct?" I asked the Earl and he nodded. "They should have gotten back a while ago then." I looked at the twins. "I'll fight you guys another time, in the meantime, I need to get back before they start to worry, or worse."

I stood up out of my seat and walked back over to Road's door. "Road!" I called. She ran over to the door and opened it up. "It will take you to the edge of the cliff that houses the Black Order HQ." She said. I nodded and started to walk. "Oh, Ashamar!" She grabbed my hand before I got to the door. She looked me in the eyes with a big smile on her face. "Don't forget your promise." She said before letting go of my hand. I smiled and ruffled her hair. "I won't." I said before taking my final steps through her door.

.

.

.

When I exited the door, I was literally right on the edge of the cliff. I nearly fell off, well that was an exaggeration, I didn't nearly fall off, but it felt like I would. _She wasn't kidding about it being on the edge of the cliff. "Well at least she wasn't trying to kill us, because then we would've fallen." _Tarrin said jokingly in my head. _We would probably have seen a few candles as well_.I said in retort.

I walked down the path until I got to the excessively large gate to HQ. There were at least six golems following me as well, it made me very self-conscious. I looked up at the gatekeeper. "Hey, I'm here, do you mind letting me in." Then, one of the golems said something. "Ashamar!" It was Komui's voice. "Good your finally here. Before you come in, we need you to take the examination by the gatekeeper."

I was a little shocked at the comment. "Wait, why do I need to take an exam? I thought it was pretty clear that I'm not an akuma." "Well, according to what Lenalee's group reported, we're not so sure of that anymore." I sighed in disbelief, and walked over to the gatekeeper. _Tarrin!_ I thought. _I need you to hide yourself as well as you can. Do whatever you can to not be detected! "Understood, and you try and act as unsuspicious as possible." Got it, we can't let them know about us, considering that your an akuma._

I stepped up to the gatekeeper. "Go ahead, take your examination." I said spitefully. The giant face in the wall suddenly extended itself towards me and it's eyes started to shine a bright light on me. "Scanning," The gatekeeper said. "Wait, everything's going to static, I can't see properly!" Komui's voice came back through the golem. "Gatekeeper, what's wrong! Are you glitching?" The Gatekeeper suddenly started crying and snotting all over the place. "I don't know I-" It suddenly stopped. "Gatekeeper?" Komui said.

I smiled a little, but I tried to hide it from the golems. Then, the Gatekeeper started to speak again. "The static is gone." He said surprised. "Let me continue the scan." He said, he then continued scanning for about thirty seconds and found neither hide nor hair of an akuma. "He can enter!" The Gatekeeper suddenly said. Then the gates opened.

I smiled heavily and made my way to the gate. _Tarrin, you Magnificent Bastard. "Thank you very much friend, it was a bit difficult, but I managed." Well, you got us through, and that's all I could ever ask._

When I walked through the gate I expected a warm welcome...that's not exactly how it played out. When I stepped inside I saw three men with swords standing opposite me. "Get him!" I heard a voice scream and then the men charged at me.

As soon as they reached me, I rolled between them and stood up behind them. Before they could react, I grabbed the center man's sword arm and lifted him over my shoulder and tossed him across the room, causing his sword to fly into the air.

At this point, the other two men have turned around and were ready to strike. The first man swung high and I ducked the swing. The next man tried to take advantage by swinging low to catch my legs, but I was faster. Before he even swung the sword, I leapt up and when his blade hit the floor, I ran up his arm and kicked him in the back of the head before leaping off his shoulder to catch the falling blade.

I caught the blade in a dive and flipped to level myself out facing the two men, one of which was lying against the wall, unconscious, due to my previous kick. As soon as I landed, I lunged for the remaining man. He attempted to strike down as I approached, but I side-stepped and made a thrust to the hilt of his blade.

Well, that was the plan at least. Mid-strike, I heard someone call my name. I wasn't sure who it was, but it was surprising, so surprising that the end of my blade missed the hilt of his sword. Instead, my blade went straight through his hand, and when I say straight through, I mean it went in through his palm and came out the back of his hand.

To be fair, my goal was to make him drop the sword, and he did drop it, it just wasn't exactly as intended. The man fell down clutching the new hole in his hand. Then I grabbed his head and lifted it up. "Sorry about this." I said before slamming his head into my knee, efficiently knocking him out. I then dropped the sword on the ground, for I did not need it anymore.

Then I looked around at the three bodies now littered across the room. I then yelled to whoever could hear me. "Is this some kind of joke! If you're going to try and kill me, you should at least send someone sufficiently capable of doing so." When I finished doing that, I waited for someone to respond. When nobody did, I was confused. "Hello?" I called out. "someone please come down here, I'm not going to hurt you."

Then, I heard the sound of the speakers turn on. "Are you an akuma?" Someone's voice asked. "You're still going on about that, really. I'm not an akuma, I only knocked these guys out, they're fine, for the most part." There was a brief pause. _"You think they know about me?" _Tarrin asked in my mind. _That's not possible, there's no way they could've found out. Don't worry._ I assured him.

The pause was interrupted when a familiar voice came through the speaker. "Ashamar? Ashamar? Ashamar, is that you?" It was the voice of a boy I loved dearly. "Talimal!? Is that you? God, I haven't heard your voice in ages!" I was so happy to hear my little brother, it made the really messed up situation I'm in feel good...somehow.

He sounded so surprised at the sound of my voice. "Brother! It is you. I can't believe-" He was interrupted by an angry, grunting sound. "Be quiet, you. Tervik, hold him down." He said to another person in the room. "I am! Calm down." Said another voice. I widened my eyes in surprise. "Tervik! Your hear too!?" I screamed, even more surprised. "In the flesh, well, sort of, since were talking through a speaker phone."

I laughed for a while and then we just talked about random stuff. I wasn't really all that sure of what was happening up there but it sounded hilarious through the speaker. "What was that?" Talimal said to one of the grunting people in the room. All I could hear was 'mphhpophpmhmpkhm' but apparently Talimal understood. "Oh, okay. Ashamar, Komui wants to see you in his office, like, now. Okay Tervik you can get off of him now."

I laughed a little bit more at our current situation, then I headed up to Komui's office. _"I couldn't tell," _Tarrin said in my mind. _"Was that a 'welcome home' or was it a 'Your going to die for everything you've done?" _I chuckled _I really don't know Tarrin, I don't know._ But there is one thing I do know. It is not going to be easy around here.

**Thank you for reading everyone, as always. If you enjoyed, please review, follow, favorite, whatever floats your boat, really. I had lots of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you have lots of fun reading it. Thanks again, and have fun. :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Dreams of the Past

_**Okay, before we start, I just want to say a few things. First, I apologize for not updating last week, so I made this chapter much longer than the rest. Second, my uptdating schedule has been changed. I will upload once every other week on either Saturday or Sunday(Unless something really catastrophic happens.) Also, I would like to thank the few people who actually read this story, and if you have something you want to suggest or comment about, please review the story, I am open to advice. I know a lot of people really don't like OC's, but as you've probably noticed, this story has quite a few of them. However, I don't intend to keep all of my OC's alive, because there are six of them. I will only be adding one more OC to this story and I promise there will be no more after that. Anyways, let's get back to the story.**_

The Shadowed Coin

Chapter 6: Dreams of the Past

I ran to the security room, where Talimal and the others were, in the hope of figuring out what the hell is going on. When I got there, I saw the strangest thing. I saw all the science officers in the room lying on the ground in a daze, as if they were all given a concussion. That was probably what happened actually.

Aside from the pile of dazed scientists, there were only three people in the room. The first one was Tervik, a pretty muscular guy with pale white skin and light green hair that went down to his shoulders. He had a Battle Axe strapped to his back, I think that it's his Innocence. His uniform wasn't very intricate, like the ones Johnny likes to make, it was a long black over coat with silver linings and the Exorcist insignia on the left of his chest. He had large black leather boots and light steel gauntlets. He was smiling, and it didn't seem to fit the way he looked.

He was talking with a blond haired women, Isabelle was her name I think, and they seemed to be laughing about something. Her hair went down to her waist and was nicely braided. Her skin was light and she had sunset orange eyes. Her uniform was similar to Tervik's except the overcoat only down to her waist, beyond that was a pair of black leather pants and a pair of flat-bottom heels. She didn't have the gauntlets either, instead she had a pair of fancy black leather gloves with the intricate design of a tree on them. She was shockingly beautiful, I was stunned for a few seconds but regained my composure and looked over to the third person.

The third person was much younger, about my age, and he seemed to be watching the security screens with an interest. I noticed someone on the screen walking through the halls, the figure of a man with shoulder-length midnight blue hair, a claw mark on his cheek, and a black crecent moon on his forehead. _Ashamar_. I thought to myself. The boy watching the screens looked similar to Ashamar. He had short midnight blue that flowed down just above his eyes. His uniform was a black tunic with silver linings and a silver claw mark sewn into the center of the fabric. His arms were bare but he had a gray wrist band on his left wrist, and there was a large black coin embedded in the top of it. He also wore black silk gloves over his hands.

He turned away from the monitors and noticed me step into the room. "Allen!" The boy screamed, clearly ecstatic about whatever had just happened. He walked towards me to greet me as the other two Exorcists in the room turned toward me. "What happened?" I asked them. "Ashamar just got back." Isabelle said with an obvious bit of joy in her voice. "He beat the crap out of the guards too." Tervik said with a chuckle. "Talimal here is over-joyed at his brothers arrival." The blue-haired boy turned to him. "Of course I am!" He screamed, hyperactively. "Ashamar has been gone for four years. Four years! After all that time, I finally get to see him again." Talimal said with a sad smile.

"I thought you three were on a mission." said another voice from behind me. I turned to see Lavi and Lenalee at the door. "We just got back," Isabelle replied. "It was actually only a few hours ago. We got here and Komui told us about your mission." Tervik then smiled happily. "At first, we didn't believe the news." The green-haired man said. "But then we heard him through the computers in here as he talked to the gatekeeper." His smile faded. "What happened?" He asked, confusion riddled in his words.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. "I mean, on the mission. What happened when you found Ashamar? Komui wouldn't tell us everything, only that you found him and that he was coming back." I looked down, suddenly much more interested in my shoes. "Komui said..." Talimal started, fear biting at his voice. I looked at him, concerned. "When Ashamar was talking to the gatekeeper, Komui said that they weren't sure if he was still a human anymore. He thought that Ashamar might be an akuma, that he-" He stopped, unable to further continue the sentence.

Lenalee came forward and tried to comfort him. "I thought that too." Lavi said, still standing in the doorway. "When I first saw him, I thought that he might be an akuma." We all looked at him mystified. "What do you mean, Lavi?" I asked him, wondering why Lavi would think such a thing. "You saw him too, Allen." Lavi responded, sounding much more serious than before. "You saw what was happening to Ashamar, that dark aura. Something was wrong." Lenalee huffed. "Obviously." She said in a sarcastic tone. "Of course something was wrong, that's not something you see every day, and it definitely wasn't Innocence."

"What are you guys talking about?" Isabelle suddenly said, utterly confused. I forgot that they don't know what happened. "What was wrong with Brother?" Talimal said, worried that that something could happen to Ashamar. I sighed. "We're not entirely sure." I told them. "If you want to know what happened, then I'll tell you." The three of them nodded expectantly. "Okay then. We were searching for Ashamar when we came across an inn. Inside the inn, there was a scream, and when we went to investigate, we-" I was cut off by a loud 'ahem' coming from outside.

The source of the noise slowly walked into view, in the doorway, and there stood Ashamar. "Speak of the devil." Isabelle mumbled loud enough for us to hear. "I'm sorry to interrupt," Ashamar started. "But Komui wants to see you, all of you, in the meeting room." He then proceeded to walk into the room to greet the other three Exorcists. "Tervik, Isabelle, it's been a long time." He said as he extended his hand. Tervik grabbed his hand and shook, then he grinned. "That's an understatement." He said as Ashamar then shook Isabelle's hand.

Then he turned to Talimal, and walked over and ruffled the boy's hair. Talimal looked up at his brother with suspicious eyes, then they changed to a happy gaze, and a smile made it's way to his face. "Ashamar." He said, still smiling. Then Ashamar smiled back. "Talimal." They just looked at each other for a few seconds, and then Talimal hugged Ashamar as hard as he could. "I thought you were gone." He said sadly. "Well, I'm back." Ashamar responded, a hint of laughter in his voice. Talimal then proceeded to let go of Ashamar and walked towards the door. Then he looked back at us and grinned. "Well, are you guys coming or not? We wouldn't want to keep Komui waiting, would we." We all smiled back, and Everyone but Ashamar exited the room and made their way to the meeting room.

.

.

.

We arrived at the meeting room, along with every other Exorcist in the entire order, except for Ashamar. Mostly everyone else was already inside, and we; as in: Allen, Lenalee, Lavi, Tervik, Isabelle, and Talimal; were the only people who hadn't arrived yet. "Well," I said, breaking the not-so-silent silence. "Let's see what all this is about."

I pushed open the door and what I saw, was kind of ridiculous. I saw every Exorcist in the _entire_ order, other than Ashamar and General Cross. There was a long table that extended across the room horizontally. Komui was at the head of the table addressing everyone at the table. Everyone else; inluding: General Klaud, General Sokalo, General Tiedoll, General Yaegar, Daisya, Marie, Kanda, Rosalia, Krio, and a few other Exorcists; were all sitting scattered across the table.(In case you were wondering, this takes place currently before Krory's Castle. So that's why he [for some strange reason that I just explained] isn't here.)

When we walked in, Everyone stopped and looked at us. Komui cleared his throat. "Good, your finally here. Find a seat and we can start the meeting." I sat down directly across from Komui, with Tervik on my left and Lenalee on my right. "Komui," General Klaud spoke up. "You still haven't told us what this meeting is about." We all looked to him, thinking the same thing, _What is this meeting about? _"Ah, yes." He said in a rather serious voice. "We are here to discuss a few things about-" He was interrupted by another voice protruding from the back of the room. We all looked to the source of the voice and saw a tall, brown haired man in a black business suit. He also had a small strip of hair above his lip that made him look much more evil than he already did.

Lenalee gasped at the sight of the man, her eyes were scared and filled with fear. By the looks on the faces of everyone else in the room, it was easy to see that nobody liked this man. "We are here to discuss our new arrival." said the man, with an evil smile on his face. _I already hate this guy_ I thought to myself. "I am Inspector Leverrier, from Central." He said. He then took a seat to the right of Komui. Komui then spoke up again. "Yes, Central sent the inspector to 'check up' on a few things here soon after Allen and the other's left for their mission."

"Komui." Tervik said, speaking up so everyone could here him. "Why are we here?" Tervik spoke more fiercely, it gave me the feeling that he already had an idea of what this meeting was about, and he didn't like it. Komui spoke up again, a little scared by the glare Tervik was giving him. "We are here to discuss Ashamar." He spoke with regret, like he was hoping not to have this meeting at all. Many of us froze when we heard his words. "What about him?" General Sokalo said, his feet up on the table, not really caring about the conversation. "Yeah," Talimal said, a hint of irritation in his voice. "What did my brother do?" Leverrier huffed in amusment at Talimal. "That's part of what we're trying to figure out."

I looked towards him, a little irritated at this game of riddles. "As some of you already know," Komui started. "Ashamar was taken away from his family at the age of four. He was trained to be an Exorcist for his entire life, and had no memory of his family or anything outside the Order. At the age of eighteen, he was sent on a mission with two other Exorcists, Alleer Spark and Keeter Malst. When they didn't return, we sent several finders to find out what was going on. All they found were the corpses of Alleer and Keeter, along with three shards of Innocence, Ashamar was nowhere to be found."

Everyone was a little surprised, even though some of us had already heard most of it. "Wait a minute." Lavi said suddenly, surprising the rest of us. He then looked to Komui confusingly. "Komui, you said that they found _three_ shards of Innocence." Our eyes all lit up, but our enthusiasm was put down when Leverrier spoke up again. "We believe that the two Exorcists were killed by Ashamar after they found the Innocence. The first two Innocence belonged to the dead Exorcists, and third was the one they found." We all contemplated this.

"We also believe," He spoke up again. "That Ashamar did this because he was working for the Earl." I froze in shock at the last bit. Then, I heard hands slam down on the table as Talimal stood up. "Ashamar would never work for the Earl!" He screamed in fury, obviously pissed off by the mere thought of it. "He loved the Order! It was the only place he could call home, he would never betray us." His voice faded from anger to sadness as he finished talking.

Many of us nodded at what Talimal was saying, but were cut off by a huff of amusement coming from Leverrier. "Is that what he told you?" Leverrier said, somehow finding this funny. "What do you mean?" Talimal responded angrily. "Ashamar never loved the Order." Leverrier said, causing all eyes to shift confusingly. "In fact, he hated it." Rosalia stood, just as angry as her brother. "That's a lie!" She screamed. "He loved us and all the friends he had in the Order. If he hated us so much then how come-" Her eyes started to fill with tears as she collapsed back into her chair, Talimal sat back down and put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

"None of you have any idea what Ashamar was like." Leverrier said, his voice becoming much more serious. "He was even worse than Lenalee." Lenalee froze when Leverrier turned his gaze on her. "Leave Lenalee out of this." Komui said, freeing Lenalee of the inspector's gaze. "She has absolutely nothing to do with this conversation, so leave her out of it!" The anger in Komui's voice surprised everyone. _He really doesn't like it when people talk about Lenalee like that_. I thought to myself.

"Inspector." Tervik said calmly. "Hm?" Leverrier huffed as he turned to the green-haired Exorcist. "There is something I can't understand about your theory." He said, getting away from the conversation of Ashamar's childhood. "And what would that be?" Leverrier said inquisitively. "If Ashamar was working with the Earl, then why would he leave the Innocence?" The inspector's eyes widened. "Why wouldn't he just bring the innocence to the Earl?" The inspector glared at Tervik, probably angry at how he found a flaw in his theory, but then he just smiled again. "Because he wanted to throw us off." Leverrier said, as if it was obvious.

I looked at Tervik and he looked at me, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. _He just made that up. _"Also," Leverrier started again. "In the report from this last mission, it says that he willingly left with a Noah to talk with the Earl. This proves that he's working for him." Several people at the table looked surprised to hear about Ashamar and the Noah, it seemed to make them falter from what they believed. Talimal started to get angry again as his eyes flared up, but he managed to control it this time.

Leverrier then stood up and straightened his tie. "I think it's about time for me to go." He said, returning to his normal composure. Then he walked towards the entrance of the room, opened the door, and left. As soon as the door closed again, Lenalee sighed softly, glad that he was finally gone. "So," Daisya finally said, breaking the silence. "Are we done?" Komui sighed. "Not yet. But now that he's gone, this will be much easier." Daisya groaned and leaned back in his chair. "What's left." I asked Komui politely. "Just a few things." He said, smiling mischievously.

.

.

.

"Ughhhhh" Lavi groaned as we left the meeting room. "What time is it? We had to have been in there for at least three hours." "Be quiet, Baka Usagi." Kanda said, but he sounded just as tired as Lavi was. "I'm going to take a nap." He said and then wandered off to his room. My stomach grumbled angrily. "Hahaha. Allen, was that your stomach again?" Lenalee said jokingly. "Yeah." I mumbled. "I'm going to get something to eat. Does anyone want to come with me?" I asked them hopefully, because I didn't want to eat alone. "I'll go." Lenalee said cheerfully. "Me too!" Lavi screamed, probably loud enough for everyone in the Order to hear. "Okay then." I said, then we rushed to the cafeteria.

.

.

.

"Tervik!" The White haired Exorcist called. I turned to see him, Lavi, and Lenalee having a meal in the dining hall. "Yeah!" I called back from the hallway. "Are you hungry?" Allen asked. I shrugged. "A bit, I guess." I said as I walked over to where Jerry, the Head Chef, was taking orders.

I stepped to the back of the short line and waited. A couple minutes passed and the line hadn't moved at all. I looked to see what was holding up the line, and it was none other than Talimal, the second heavy eater of the Order. "-I would also like a stack of four blueberry waffles and a bowl of beef stew." Talimal said as he finished his, probably massive, order. Jerry finished writing it down and smiled at the boy. "You and Allen, you two are my favorite people to cook for." Jerry said gleefully, Talimal just smiled. He turned and saw me waiting behind him, because the others were tired of waiting for him.

"Tervik, how are you?" asked the blue haired boy, just trying to be polite. I smiled and ruffled his hair. "I'm fine." I answered. "I see your appetite still hasn't changed." He chuckled and started to walk over to Allen's table. I looked at the two of them and thought to myself. _How does the Order manage to feed both of those two? I mean, seriously, they can both eat about 20 full course meals. _

I ordered my food, a steak and two potatoes, and then, also, walked to Allen's table. I sat down across from Allen, and next to Talimal. "So, how're you four doing?" I asked, trying to make conversation. Allen finished another plate of food and stacked in on the already-massive pile of dishes. "I'm fine, now that I've gotten something to eat." He wiped his mouth with a napkin like a gentlemen. "Now that that meeting is finally over, I can actually get some rest too." Lavi said joyfully. Talimal lowered his spoon and put on a saddened expression. "We can also let Ashamar rest without having to worry about us talking about him." At the mention of Ashamar's name, the mood suddenly became much quieter.

"I know it's hard to trust him," I started saying. "But that doesn't mean we should have a meeting about him behind his back." Talimal nodded, continuing to eat his ridiculous amount of food. "It was necessary." Lavi said solemnly. I looked up at him and narrowed my eyes. "No, it wasn't. If we needed to know anything, we should've asked him directly." "It wouldn't help." Lavi said in response. "He wouldn't have answered the questions, he would've just talked around them." Talimal looked up from his food again, a fierce glare in his eyes. "How would you know, Lavi?" He asked the red head. "We already tried to." Lenalee interrupted. "We asked him questions when we fist found him, but he wouldn't give us a direct answer."

We all just sat there for a few seconds, contemplating. By this time, Allen had finished his meal and was just sitting there, a faraway look in his eyes. The rest of us just looked at our food with no particular interest. Then, Talimal spoke up. "If Ashamar won't tell us, I'm sure there's a reason for it."

.

.

.

**Eight Hours Later**

It was the middle of the night, and I was up practicing with Warrior's Pride, my battle axe. It was a large Silver axe, on it's blade were many runic carvings. The hilt was pure black and also had more of these carvings. I don't know what language they are or what they mean, but they do look nice. After about an hour of practice, I put down the axe and leaned it against the wall, then I collapsed on the bed.

I just lay there and thought to myself. _Ashamar,_ I thought. _What did you do to get all this attention from the Order? I know they believe you betrayed your comrades, then you disappeared, and now you come back and won't tell us anything._ I put my hands behind my head and shifted into a more comfortable position. _Did you actually betray us? _I shook my head, trying to get the thought out of my head. _Don't think like that, Tervik. You've known Ashamar ever since you came to the Order, he was your first friend here, he wouldn't betray us._

I sighed, trying to forget my worries. Then, I closed my eyes and began to drift into a slumber. *Crash* "CHRIST ALMIGHTY!" I heard, and I immediately rose from my bed. _Wasn't that Ashamar's voice?_ I grabbed Warrior's Pride, then I exited into the hallway and headed for Ashamar's room.

I didn't hear any more noises after that, and apparently nobody else heard it, they were probably all asleep. But, when I got close to Ashamar's room, I heard talking. "No, I haven't asked him yet." Ashamar said quietly. Then I heard a pout from someone else in the room, then they said something, but it was to quiet for me to hear. "It's only been one day, I've been too busy getting tested and questioned to ask him. Besides, he'd probably find it pretty strange if I asked him something like that."

The second voice said something else I couldn't understand. "I know I promised you." Ashamar said, his tone sounding a little bit worried. "Don't worry, I'll get around to it, until then-" He stopped suddenly, Then he quickly whispered something and I heard some shuffling from inside the room. _I think he can hear my breathing._ I thought to myself. Then, the door was opened, and I came face-to-face with Ashamar, wearing an unbuttoned white dress shirt and some ragged trousers. Under his shirt, I could see part of what looked like a large scar. "Well," He started to say smugly. "Would you look at this."

.

.

.

I was lying down in my bed, my hands behind my head, looking up at the ceiling. I couldn't get to sleep, there was too much on my mind. _Tarrin._ I thought. _"Yes, Ashamar" _The friendly akuma responded. _What do you think they'll do? I mean, they obviously don't trust us, and it's pretty clear that they think we're traitors. _It was quiet for a few seconds. "_Well, technically we are. But we still have some friends here, or you do at least." Hey, you like them too, don't deny it. "Yeah, but they don't know I actually exist. Anyway, I'm not really sure what they'll do, but for now, I think we'll be okay." We're lucky that Komui could convince Central to let us back, otherwise this encounter would've been very awkward._

It was peacefully quiet, and it was really comforting, until the the big, red, heart shaped door appeared above me. As soon as the door opened, Road came jumping out and landed right on top of me, knocking me off the bed with a 'crash'. "CHRIST ALMIGHTY!" I screamed as I fell to the floor. "Hi, Ashamar." Road said cheerfully as she bounced on the bed. "Road? What are you doing here?" I asked as I got myself up off the floor. "I wanted to ask you something." Road said gleefully. I sighed, then I sat myself next to her on the bed. "And what would that be?" I asked patiently. She stopped jumping and sat herself down on the bed, waving her feet off of it, then she turned to me and smiled. "Have you asked him yet?" I was confused at the question, and I tilted my head to show it.

_"She means Allen." _Tarrin said quietly in my head. "Oh! You mean Allen." I said to Road, and she nodded happily. _"I really hate you sometimes." _I smiled, happy with his irritation. _Well, that's how this relationship works. You should've gotten used to it by now. _I could here his groaning in my head, and it made me chuckle. _"Okay, now I _really_ hate you right now. _I couldn't help laughing, and Road looked at me like I was nuts. "What's so funny?" She asked, a confused yet amused expression on her face. "It's just Tarrin." I said, calming my laughter. "So, have you asked him?" Road asked again. My smile faded slightly. _Let's hope she doesn't get mad. _I thought to myself, and Tarrin huffed in agreement.

I sighed. "No, I haven't asked him yet." Road pouted and slumped forward. "You said you would ask him." She said, disappointed. "It's only been one day, I've been to busy getting tested and questioned to ask him. Besides, he'd probably find it pretty strange if I asked him something like that." She looked at me with an angered expression. "But you promised me you'd ask him!" She screamed in anger. Well, she didn't actually sound angry, more like, very disappointed. "I know I promised you." I was a little worried. _If she keeps screaming, she might attract attention. "Well, I guess you'll just have to deal with it." _Tarrin said teasingly.

I sighed at his comment, slightly more irritated at his irritation with me. Then I looked back at Road, who now looked a little more sad than before. "Don't worry," I said in a calming voice. "I'll get around to it, until then-" I stopped. _Tarrin, do you here that? "Yeah, I think someone's eavesdropping." _I muttered a curse under my breath and quickly turned back to Road. "Get under the bed." I quietly ordered. She seemed to understand and proceeded to shuffle of the bed and crawl underneath it.

I stood up, and turned my head to the door. _"I wonder who it is." _Tarrin said in my head. _No need to wonder, we're about to find out. _I walked up to the door and turned the handle. When the door opened, I saw my green haired friend, Tervik. "Well, would you look at this." I said smugly. Tervik glared at me. "Who were you talking to?" He demanded, keeping his voice calm. "I didn't take you for the eavesdropping type, Tervik." I joked, just making his temper rise higher. "Answer the question, Ashamar." I smiled at him, pleased at his irritation, then I shrugged and made a poker face. "I was just talking to myself." I lied. His glare got tighter and I saw his hand tighten it's grip on his BattleAxe, which he just happened to be carrying with him.

I looked at the weapon, a little more worried now. _Well, that's inconvenient. _I thought to myself. Tarrin started laughing slightly. _"Is that what you call it. Because, in a few seconds, I think I'd call it pain." Come on! Have a little confidence. _Tarrin's laugh got a a little louder and I just sighed. Then I looked back up at Tervik's angry eyes with an equally fierce look. "Do you not trust me, Tervik." I said, and an evil smile formed on my face. "I'd like to," Tervik said, surprising me a little. "But after everything I've heard, it's rather difficult." He looked down at the floor, his expression lightening.

I was frozen for a second, still surprised at what he said, then I smiled. _I guess I still mean something to him then. _I put my hand on his shoulder, and he raised his eyes back to mine. "Tervik," I said, my voice as calming as a waterfall. "I'm still the same person you met all those years ago. I haven't changed." A soft smile played on my face, and his expression was calmed, and from what I could guess, so was his mind. "I hope so." He said quietly. "Because the Ashamar I met all those years ago, was the best friend I had." He smiled, and I smiled back at him, then we shook hands in agreement.

After a few seconds, I sighed in relief. "How about this." He said suddenly, surprising me. "What?" I asked. "Why don't we go to a restaurant tomorrow, you know, with the rest of the gang." I chuckled "The 'gang'" I said jokingly. "You know. You, me, Krio, Isabelle. The four of us need to get reacquainted." I smiled happily and extended my hand. "Sure, why not." He smiled and shook my hand. "It's a deal then."

When he finally left, I waited several minutes before I went back into my room. I shut the door and sighed in relief. "That was a close one." I heard Road shuffling around under the bed still. "Can I come out now?" She asked me. "Yeah, you can come out." ***bonk*** "Ow." She said. I walked over to the bed and crouched down. "You okay?" I asked her. "I'm fine, just hit my head. Can you help me." I nodded and smiled, then I placed one hand on the edge of the bed and tilted it upwards, opening the way from under the bed.

When she crawled out and I put the bed back down, she kicked me in the shin. "Ow." I said, holding my shin. "What was that for?" I asked and she huffed in irritation. "That's for taking so long. It's not comfortable under there you know." I laughed nervously, hoping she wouldn't kick me again. _"Hahaha! You deserved that one." _Tarrin said, laughing hysterically. _Shut up, Tarrin. _

"So?" Road asked. I tilted my head in confusion. "So, what?" She groaned in irritation. "So, what were you going to say? You know, before we were interrupted." I was tired, so it was hard to think, especially with Tarrin laughing in my mind. "Oh, right. I was saying, it might take a while to get Allen to play with you, so until then, how about I visit you guys every week." She looked surprised at first, but then her smile grew until it was as big as the Earl's. "Really!?" She screamed. I covered my ears. "Quiet, someone will hear you." I took my hands off my ears and I placed one on her head. "Yes, really. I'll visit every Saturday." She was practically jumping with joy. Her smile didn't fade one bit, and she seemed really excited.

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" I laughed at the Purple haired girl's happiness."Okay okay, calm down." she stopped screaming, but her happiness did not diminish. She leaned back from her hug so she could look me in the eyes. "Thank you, Ashamar." I chuckled. "Your welcome. By the way, what day is it today?" She stopped and thought for a second. "Thursday, today is Thursday. Which means you will visit two days from now!" She beamed with happiness again, and it warmed my heart.

I picked her up and put her back on the floor. "I think it's time for you to go, Road. I need to get some sleep." She nodded enthusiastically. "Okay. I'll tell Millennie and the others that you'll be coming on Saturday." The door above my bed then lowered itself down to the ground and the it opened. "Bye, Ashamar. See you on Saturday." She waved happily. "See you, Road." Then she left, and the door disappeared.

After all that, I fell back into my bed, and closed my eyes. _"So..." _Tarrin started to say. _"We'll be visiting the Noahs every week, then?" _I smiled. "Yup, that's the plan." I said out loud._"How do you plan on getting there? The mansion is pretty far away, and it's not like the Order will just let you leave every week." _I laughed slightly. "Don't worry, Tarrin, I can sneak out pretty easily. And getting there, I have my ways." Tarrin gasped in surprise. _"You're not thinking-"_ "Don't worry about it, the mansion isn't actually that far, about 200 miles. I won't have to use it for very long, either. It can move us pretty fast." Tarrin stopped talking but I could still sense his worry. "I said, don't worry. Everything will be fine." _"I hate it when you say that." _"I know you do." Then I drifted off to sleep.

.

.

.

I see a village, a small village, there are many people. I'm dreaming, I'm seeing a memory, a memory I can never forget.

.

.

.

I woke up in my bed, my long, blond hair all messed up like it always is in the morning. I groaned from sleepiness. I looked out my window and saw the sun rising over the horizon. "I guess I'm early." I said to myself.

I stepped out of bed and got dressed. I put on my uniform, brushed and braided my hair, then I grabbed my Anti-Akuma bow, Nature's Blessing, and strapped it to my back. I looked in the mirror and smiled. _At least I don't look horrible. Who knows, I may even look nice._ I thought to myself as I finished dressing. When I was done, I walked up to the door, turned the handle, and left.

When I got out of my room, I saw Rosalia and Allen talking, just outside my room. "How am I supposed to know?" Rosalia said to Allen in a joking manner. "I don't watch you two eat." Allen sighed, then he turned and saw me walking towards them. "Hello, Isabelle." He said happily. I waved back groggily, still a little bit sleepy. Rosalia turned as well, then she turned back to Allen. "Ask Isabelle, she might know." Allen turned back to her. "Are you sure you don't know, I mean, not even by a few drumsticks?" She sighed in frustration. "No, I don't. Besides, why do you even care?" "Hello?" I said to them, not having any idea what they were talking about.

They looked at me expectantly. "What on Earth are you talking about?" I said in utter confusion. Rosalia sighed in frustration. "Allen here wants to know who eats more, him or Talimal." I looked at her with a face that said 'what?', and then I looked to Allen. "Why?" I asked him, still confused. He shook is head. "No no, I wanted to know which one of us eats more in an average meal." "That's pretty much the same thing." Rosalia said. "Why do you even care?" I asked him. Rosalia threw her hands in the air in frustration. "That's what I said!" Allen suddenly looked a little smaller. "I was curious." He said quietly.

I raised my eyebrow at him, then I started laughing. Now it was his turn to be confused. "What's so funny?" He asked me, as I was still laughing hysterically, completely ignoring his question. He started to frown, then, Rosalia started to laugh as well. Allen started to get upset, not having any idea what in the seven hells was happening. "What!" He screamed in confusion. We just kept laughing, still not answering his question.

Allen frustration really started to show, as he started shaking with fury. "What's so funny?! I something wrong with my face?" He placed his hands on his face trying to figure it out. Then Rosalia laughter started to calm down a little. "We're laughing...at how dumb you are, Allen" She said, gasping for breath, exhausted by her excessive laughter. This lowered Allen's anger, although it did seem irritated with her answer. "How am I dumb?" He asked her, as I finally calmed down from my laughing fit.

"Allen!" We heard a scream from down the hall, it was Section Chief Reever. His spiky blond hair a mess as he was holding a giant stack of papers. We turned our heads to him. "Yes, Reever." Allen asked him. "Komui has a mission for you. You might want to get there fast." Allen's eyes lit up, then he turned back to us. "I'll see you two later." He said as he started running off to Komui's office. "Have a nice day!" He screamed back, waving.

When he was gone, it was just me and Rosalia in the hall. Then, I started to yawn, and Rosalia giggled a little. "I'm going to take a nap." I said sleepily, and Rosalia looked at me like I was crazy. "You just woke up." She said in confusion, then she shook her head. "Come on." she said, then she walked off and motioned for me to follow, so I did.

"Where are we going?" I asked her after about a minute of walking. Rosalia turned her head to me and smiled. "We're going to go get Ashamar, Krio, and Tervik." She said happily. I tilted my head her. "Why?" I asked her. She turned head back to the front of us. "You guys are going to get breakfast." "We are?" I asked, surprised. "Yes, you are." She responded in an orderly tone. I frowned at her. "Who are you to tell me what to do? I'm six years older than you." I said, a little bit irritated by her. She stopped and turned her body towards me, and she frowned.

"Because you four need to have some proper time together." Rosalia said, upset that I would ask such a question. "Besides," She started again, as she turned back and continued. "I know you'd like to spend some time with Ashamar." She giggled after she said it, and I blushed. "W-what are you talking about?" I said, trying to hide my face. Rosalia's giggle turned into a laugh. "You didn't think I could tell? When he left, you were so broken up about it." I scoffed at her. "So were you." I said in retort, and she just eyed me. "That's because he's my brother, so it makes sense. But you, you were crying your eyes out when they said he disappeared." I looked at her with denying eyes. "I was not!" I screamed. "Were too." She giggled in response. "Was not!"

We walked in silence for a few seconds after that. "Were too." Rosalia whispered. "Was not!" I screamed in fury. "Girls." I heard a voice to our right, and when I turned, I saw Tervik leaning against a pillar. He looked up at us and smiled. "What are you two talking about?" He asked with a mischievous tone. "N-nothing!" I said quickly then laughed nervously. He stared at me strangely and he knew that it wasn't 'nothing', but he decided not to pry. Rosalia sighed at my 'amazing subtlety'.

"You ready to go?" Tervik asked me. "To breakfast, you mean." I asked. "Yes." "Then yes." I smiled and he smiled back. "Well, I guess you don't need me anymore." Rosalia said as she started to walk off. "Wait!" Tervik called after her. She turned to him. "Yeah?" "Can you go get Ashamar, I don't he'd like being woken up by me." She nodded and skipped off down the hall. I looked at Tervik. "Why wouldn't he want to see you?" I asked him. "Oh, uh, no reason." He said, obviously lying to me. I eyed him suspiciously, but he had a look that said 'drop it', so I decided not to ask further.

We walked for a minute before anyone had anything to say. "So..." I started, and he turned to me. "Yeah?" Tervik asked. "Does Komui know were leaving?" Tervik thought for a minute. "I don't think he'll mind, we're only having breakfast, then we're coming back." He said it like it was so simple, but chances were, it probably wasn't. We'd probably run into some akuma that decided it was a good idea to attack us, or maybe some guy would steal one of our wallets and we'd have a really hard time finding him again. Knowing the people I'm going to breakfast with, if that happened, we'd probably never come back until we found him.

I was deep in thought, so I didn't notice when we Tervik stopped, and I walked right into him, causing him to stumble. "S-sorry!" I said to him as he regained his balance. "It's okay." He said as he brushed himself off. "We're here." He said, gesturing to the door in front of us. It was Krio's room.

I knocked on the door, I got no response. I knocked again, a bit louder this time, still no response. Then, I banged on the door. I got a response but it was something like 'mphhfmraframamm'. Starting to get irritated, I banged on the door even louder and screamed. "Krio, Get you ass out of bed!" I yelled. "Wha-Ahh!" Krio said and then I heard a crash. I looked behind me at Tervik. "Let's go in and check on him." He said, then we walked in.

"Owww." Was the first thing we heard. We saw Krio lying on the floor with the blanket pulled off the bed. I couldn't help laughing at him, it was so funny to see. "Shut up." He said as he stood himself up and brushed off his clothes. He was still dressed like he was sleeping. Well, of course he is, he just fell out of bed. He was just wearing his boxers and he was shirtless. "Well?" He asked, still a little ticked off. "What do you want?" we looked at him and Tervik cleared his throat. "We're going to breakfast with Ashamar, your coming." Krio's expression softened a little bit, then he smiled slightly. "Okay." He said. "But you didn't have knock me out of bed." He joked. I smiled at him. "That was your fault." I joked. Then I turned and walked to the door. "We're leaving as soon as everyone is ready. And..." I looked back at him and smiled. "You might want to put some clothes on." I suggested, teasing him. He looked down at himself and he blushed slightly. "Yeah, uh, I'll do that." He said, scratching the back of his head.

We waited outside his room for a few minutes as he got ready. When he came out, he was dressed in his normal uniform, but his usually scraggly hair was combed back. "I'm ready." He said. "Looking good, Krio." Tervik said with respect. Krio smiled. "Thank you, Tervik."

"So..." I said, causing them both to look at me. "Are we ready to go?" Tervik nodded. "Now we just need to get Ashamar and-" He was cut off by Rosalia running towards us. "Guys!" She screamed. "Guys!" She got to us and was completely out of breath with her hands on her knees. "Rosalia, what's wrong?" I asked her. She looked up at me with fear in her eyes. "Ashamar won't wake up." she said worriedly. Our eyes lit up and we all looked at each other. "Is he still in his room?" Tervik asked her. "Yes." She responded, and after one more brief look, we ran off to Ashamar's room.

"Rosalia." I asked as we ran. "What exactly do you mean when you say he won't wake up?" She looked at me, the fear in her eyes mostly gone now and replaced with worry. "That's exactly what I mean." She said. "I don't know exactly what's wrong, but he's very warm and he won't wake up." Tervik shook his head. "That doesn't sound good." "He could just be sick though." Krio said, trying to stay positive. "Unlikely." Tervik responded. "I saw him last night and he was just fine." Krio's eyes were starting to become angry and determined. "Well let's hope he's okay then." He said, and we continued to run.

When we got to Ashamar's room, we stopped just outside the door. "Rosalia." I said. The girl looked to me. "What." She asked, irritation in her voice. "Go get the others, in case something really in wrong." She didn't seem to like it, but she nodded, then she ran off.

"Okay fellas." I said to the other two. "Let's see what's wrong with our dear friend." They both nodded, then we opened up the door, and walked in. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Ashamar is actually in his room after four years, but other than that, nothing seemed wrong. I walked over to Ashamar's bed and kneeled down next to him. I felt his forehead. _He's really warm._ I thought to myself. I put my hand on his cheek. "Ashamar, please wake up. We don't you to be hurt. Please, wake up."

I waited for a few seconds for some sort of response, but nothing happened. "Isabelle." Tervik said, and I turned to him. "Get up, we need to see what's wrong with him." I nodded and moved my eyes back to Ashamar, and I saw a small motion in his face. My eyes lit up. "Ashamar." I said again. His face shifted again and his eyes opened, except they were completely black, and looking straight into mine. I froze in fear and darkness started to surround us. "Isabelle!" I heard Tervik and Krio scream, but their voices started to fade, until I could see and hear nothing, but the steady beating of my heart.

The darkness around me then started to change. It started to swirl around me like a tornado. "Tervik! Krio!" I screamed when I finally regained my senses. I was scared, I had know idea what was happening, but the swirling darkness seemed to brighten. The darkness started to disappear, and when it was all gone, I saw a bright sun over a village.

_"I see a village." _I heard in an echoing voice. "Who's there?" I asked_"A small village." _it continued, as if it didn't here my comment. _"There are many people. I'm dreaming, I'm seeing a memory, a memory I can never forget." _The voice started to sound familiar, but I couldn't place it. "This is a dream?" I asked out loud. "If it is, then, who's dream is it?" The voice didn't answer, and it didn't continue to speak either.

I looked down at the village below me and the scene became more clear. I saw a large mob of people, all holding weapons. Pitchforks, torches, cleavers, sickles. They were all circled around a figure, a small figure. When I looked more closely, I started to recognize the figure. It was a boy, about eleven years old, with Midnight blue hair that went down his shoulders. He had a four line scar down his right cheek and a black crescent moon tattooed on his forehead. I was looking at Ashamar, a much younger version of him.

"What is this?" I asked again, knowing the voice wouldn't respond. "Why are these people surrounding Ashamar with weapons?"I said to myself. "_This is a dream, a memory." _The voice started speaking, but it was like before, it wasn't directed at me. _"Why am I remembering this horrible place? Why am I here again?" _It started to ask itself questions, it sounded angry, like this memory was like the scar on Ashamar's face, everlasting.

I looked back at the villagers and Kid-Ashamar. Ashamar had a look of fear in his eyes and he trembled in front of the mob. I couldn't before, but now I could here them, the screams of anger coming from the villagers, and the frail voice of the young boy. "You monster!" One villager seemed to scream as he lowered his pitchfork at the boy. The boy jumped back fear. "I didn't do anything!" Ashamar screeched. Another villager scoffed at him. "You expect us to believe that? Ever since you got here, people have started mysteriously disappearing. We know you've been killing them." He hacked at Ashamar with a sickle and he narrowly avoided it.

"But I didn't!" Ashamar screamed again. "Yeah right." One of the villagers said behind him, and before he could turn to see him, he was hit with a large wooden club. It hit him right in the head and caused him to fall to the ground in pain. All the villagers closed in on him. "Please!" The boy pleaded. "Please, you have to believe me!" The villagers all ignored him as they started to beat him while he was defenseless. Ashamar screamed in pain as the beating went on for several minutes.

I looked on in horror unable to move. "Stop!" I screamed, but they couldn't here me. _This is just a dream, _I thought to myself. _I'm not really here._ Then, they stopped hitting Ashamar and they all backed off slightly. Ashamar was cut and bruised all over his body, clutching his wounds in pain. One of the villagers sighed. "Let's end this abomination." He said, then he raised his pitchfork and proceeded to thrust it towards the beaten boy. "NO!" I screamed, trying with all my might to stop this. But I couldn't do anything, and the pitchfork hit.

Tears started to fall from my eyes as I watched the blade pierce the boy, only, the boy wasn't there, and the man wielding the pitchfork had also disappeared. The pitchfork fell to the ground as everyone else just stood there wondering where the two of them went. Then, a scream was heard several yards away from the mob and every one turned to the source of the sound.

When I looked, I gasped in horror. What I saw was the man lying on the ground, Ashamar's fist plunged into his chest and coming out the other side. "You...you m-monster." The man said accusingly. Ashamar had a malicious and evil smile on his face, and his eyes were pure black. Then, his skin started to darken until it looked like a shadow. He ripped his and out of the man's chest and the man screamed in pain, while Ashamar stood up and turned to the rest of the mob, his arm covered in blood.

"M-m-monster!" Some of the villagers screamed as they started to run off into the village. The rest of them just stood there, staring in shock and horror, frozen with fear. Ashamar smiled sadistically at them and then held his hand towards them in a 'halt' position. He started to laugh, his voice much more evil and dark, as a dark purple ball of energy started to form in the palm of his hand. The villagers were still frozen in fear, but they started to slowly take a few steps backwards. The ball in his hand grew to the size of a house and Ashamar's evil laugh quieted down and all he said was one word. "Boom" And the ball of Dark Energy then flew towards the villagers and consumed them.

Ashamar's smile grew wider and he relished in the screams of the dying villagers. Then he started throwing more balls of Dark Energy at other buildings, enveloping them in a dark shadowy flames. I stood there watching in horror, for what felt like hours, as Ashamar slowly killed everyone in the village and smiled and laughed at there screams and pleads for their lives. After a while, everyone in the village was dead, and the buildings were all burning with that shadowy flame.

When Ashamar was satisfied, his skin and eyes turned back to normal and he left the village, walking down the dirt path. "Well," He started to say, a chuckle in his voice. "That was fun, eh, Tarrin." Then the scene faded back into darkness. _Ashamar_ I thought, shaking in fear. _What are you?"_

**Well, that was certainly strange. Thank you all for reading, I hope you liked it, the ending was very grim and evil, but I had lots of fun with it. Anyway, Follow, favorite, review, and all the usual stuff. Have a nice day :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Comatose

** Hey guys, Rage here. I'm sorry for the long wait, I've been really busy, believe it or not. I had to go to the doctor repeatedly for various things, and I've had some other things I needed to work on. Hopefully, I can get back on track with this. Once again, my uploading schedule has changed, in fact, there really isn't one anymore. I'm a very inconsistent person and have much trouble keeping a schedule. Also, do to a request, I will now show who's perspective it is. Anyway, lets get started.**

The Shadowed Coin

Chapter 7: Comatose

Perspective-Krio

Tervik and I were sitting in the infirmary, waiting for the nurse to tell them how there friends were. But first, let me explain what happened before hand.

After Tervik, Isabelle and I got to Ashamar's room, we found him lying in bed, completely unconscious. To be honest, if it were under different circumstances, I'd probably play some sort of prank on him, but that wasn't the case. Isabelle went over to his body and spoke to him a bit. Then, all of a sudden, his eyes turned black, just like before, and Isabelle seemed to be in some sort of trance and couldn't look away. When we tried to pull her away, we were knocked back by some sort of dark energy. We stood there watching for a few seconds, then Ashamar's eyes closed again, and Isabelle fell over. When we tried to wake her up, she wouldn't. She was in a coma very similar to Ashamar's. After that, Rosalia came back with Talimal, Allen, Lavi, and a few of the finders. We all decided to carry them to the infirmary, and then we got to where we are now.

"You think they'll be okay?" I asked Tervik. He seemed to be thinking about something so he didn't hear me. "Hey, Tervik." His head snapped up and he looked over to me. "You okay?" He nodded. I sighed. "What is taking them so long?" Tervik shook his head. "Don't know, but I think I can understand. Whatever happened before, it wasn't natural." I smirked at him. "Oh really? I thought it was _completely_ normal." He smirked back at me. "Oh, like that totally real girlfriend you keep telling me about?" "Hey! That's completely different! C'mon, you saw her. You know, that girl at the jewelry shop from the last mission." He looked at me with an amused expression. "You can't be serious." "I'm completely serious! You saw the way she looked at me, right? She was totally into me." He shook his head and looked at me like I was an idiot.

The door to the patients rooms opened and the nurse walked out. Both Tervik and I both snapped our attention to her, completely ignoring our previous conversation. The nurse looked at us, then she motioned for us to enter. We both nodded our heads to her and walked in. We walked straight ahead until we came to the room at the end of the hall. I placed my hand on the knob, then turned to Tervik. He nodded, and I opened the door.

It was a fairly large room. There were to beds on either side of the room, a counter on the far end from the door, and a window above it that overlooked the ocean. Ashamar was in the bed on the left, Isabelle on the right. Rosalia and Talimal were both standing by Ashamar's bed, both of which seemed much more calm than you would expect, but you could tell they were concealing their pain. They looked over at us when we entered, and we looked back. Nobody spoke a single word, we just walked over to Isabelle's bed and stood there.

"Does anybody have any idea what's going on here?" I said quietly. Tervik shook his head, "All anybody knows is that Ashamar has something to do with it." I glimpsed behind us at our other friend lying in a coma, and I sighed. "This is just ridiculous," I said irritably. "As soon as we find Ashamar, one bad thing happens and everyone suddenly thinks he's a villain." I clenched my hands into fists. Tervik put his hand on my back, "There's nothing we can do about it now, Krio. We just have to wait for our friends to get better." I unclenched my fists and nodded, but I still wasn't satisfied.

.

.

.

Perspective-Ashamar

Tic, toc, tic, toc; that was all we could hear. All we could see was darkness, the darkness that was our slumber. _"Goddamn this is boring!" _I sighed, "I know Tarrin, I know." _"No, seriously, what has it been, two hours?" _"Two hours, seventeen minutes and thirty seven seconds." Tarrin groaned even louder. "Tarrin, calm down, seriously. There is nothing we can do until we wake up." This didn't help Tarrin's irritation however.

A few more minutes passed before things started getting worse. Tarrin had started humming to himself in an effort to alleviate some of the boredom. After a while, I really started to get irritated with it. "Tarrin, stop." He seemed to stop whistling, but I could feel his attention switch t me. _"It's not like I have anything else to do. Besides, isn't the coin supposed to stop things like this from happening in the first place?" _I sighed again, this time a little more annoyed.

"The Coin is supposed to contain any excess dark matter from our body and protect us from being consumed by it. However, the dark matter in the coin is always trying to fuse with the dark matter in our body, and sometimes the coin has a hard time containing it. This results in a power struggle between the coin and the dark matter, which also happens to do severe damage to our body in the process. The dark matter attempts to take over our body and mind, so we feel an extreme pain, and occasionally, the pain is so great that we fall into a deep slumber with absolutely nothing to do. But really, this has to be the fourth time I've had to explain this to you. Seriously, you helped make the damn coin, you should know how it works!"

I waited a few seconds for a response from Tarrin. _"...snore" _I was pissed off now. "Are you fucking kidding me! Wake the fuck up asshole!" _Ahhhh! Oh, it's just you. Why'd you wake me up?" _I sighed angrily, trying to contain the rest of my irritation. "It's very rude to fall asleep when someone is talking to you, Tarrin. Didn't the Earl teach you that when he made you?" Tarrin scoffed at me. _"I'm an akuma, why would he teach me something like that?" _I sighed again.

"Never mind. More importantly, how the hell did you manage to fall asleep?" It was quiet for a second. _"What do you mean?" _He asked as if he didn't understand the question. "I mean, how did you fall asleep when we were already asleep? Isn't that, I don't know, the least bit strange to you?" Tarrin seemed to think about this for a bit. _"I guess that is a little confusing, yeah."_

I lay there for what seemed like hours. Eventually, Tarrin started singing lullaby's to himself to try and go back to sleep, but he couldn't seem to do it again. Then, we heard a noise, it was faint, but we could hear it. "Hello?" We heard. I sat up and looked around to find the source of the sound. "Tarrin, you heard that too, right?" Tarrin made a noise that indicated he did hear it.

"Hello?" The voice said again, this time a little closer. "Is anyone there? Tervik? Krio?" My eyes widened in realization. "Is that...Isabelle?" I could see a figure in the distance coming towards me. _"Yeah, I think it is. How the hell did she get in here?" _I shook my head, "I don't know, but I intend to find out." I started moving in the direction of Isabelle's voice.

"Isabelle!" I screamed towards her. She seemed to hear me, because she looked in my direction. Her face showed relief, she was probably really happy to find another person. "Ashamar, is that you?" She yelled as she started running towards me. "It is You!" When she finally got close enough, she tackled me into a hug, knocking the wind right out of me. _"Ooh, that looked like it hurt." _"Shut up...Tarrin." I gasped out quietly .

Isabelle lifted her head from her hug and looked down at me. "Ashamar, what are you doing here?" She sounded suspicious but it was mostly covered up by her immense joy. "I was gonna ask you the same thing, haha, ow." She seemed a little confused, but she seemed to understand that she was crushing me, so she got off.

I sat up and looked at her. "Now, how did you get in here?" I asked her, still very confused. She looked at me, as if she had a lot to explain.

_._

_._

_._

Perspective-Isabelle

I explained everything that happened, from when I came into his room and everything became dark, to when I was wandering through this dark void. I left out the part where I saw him as a child murdering villagers, and I tried to lie as best I could about it, but I think he knew I was lying. I just got lost in his beautiful silver eyes, and his soft silky skin, his elegant midnight blue hair. Okay, I might've gotten a bit carried away there.

"Soooo..." I started, getting his attention. "Where are we, exactly?" I looked around the vast darkness, seeing nothing but, well, darkness. Ashamar seemed to think for a second, trying to think of an answer. Then he simply answered, "I don't know." His eyebrows scrunched and he seemed to get a little angry. "Ashamar, are you okay?" I asked worriedly. He looked up at me, shaking off the expression, "Yeah yeah, I'm fine." I raised an eyebrow at him, but he seemed to ignore me.

"Isabelle?" He asked, and I looked back at him normally. He looked worried, and I wasn't sure why. "Where are you going?" I looked at him strangely, not understanding the question. I looked down at myself, and noticed something odd. My body was fading.

"Huh!?" I panicked. "What's happening? Why is my body fading?" I started freaking out, and I looked back at Ashamar, but he was gone. "Ashamar! Don't go! I don't want to be alone again!" Then, everything went dark again.

.

.

.

My eyes flashed open, and I saw a women standing over me. "Oh, you're awake. Thank goodness!" I sat up and looked around. I was in the infirmary, and there were several others in the room. Tervik, Krio, Rosalia and Talimal were all sitting around the room. When they saw me sitting up, they all smiled. "It's about damn time!" Krio said as he jumped to his feet. "We've been worried sick." Rosalia said with concern.

Everyone came over to the bed I was on. "H-how long was I out?" I asked, still a little shocked from everything that happened. "A little more than a day." Tervik stated plainly. My eyes widened, "A day!? What the hell happened?" Tervik shook his head, "That's what we were gonna ask you." I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "You must have seen something." Talimal said with curious eyes. "It has something to do with Ashamar, it has to. He's" He paused for a second, thinking of his next words carefully. "He's the reason you...fell asleep."

I looked around at all of them, "I...I saw..." They all listened inquisitively. I thought to myself, wondering what I should say. _Should I tell them about the dark? Or the scene of Ashamar as a child? Or my encounter with him? Maybe it was all just a dream. No, it was definitely real. _I looked up and they were all still waiting for an answer. "Ohh, umm..." I said, a little embarrassed. "I'll tell you later. How is Ashamar?" From the looks on their faces, the answer didn't seem good.

.

.

.

Perspective-Ashamar

"_Okay, this is just getting annoying now." _Tarrin said, somehow more irritated than before. "It's been annoying the entire time, Tarrin. You can stop mentioning it now." I sighed. I understood where he was coming from, for this wasn't any less annoying for me. "At least we got a visit." I reminded him, trying to be optimistic. _"I'd hardly call it a visit. She was here for, like, ten minutes." _I sighed, "You are such a downer."

We sat there, waiting. It had been so long since we fell asleep, or at least it felt like it. This place makes time much longer, much to our displeasure. _"Why can't we ever have good dreams?" _Tarrin asked me. I shook my head, "Because we can't have nice things. They always end up breaking...or dying...or exploding." Tarrin groaned loudly, hurting my head a little.

_"Hey, wanna play a game?" _Tarrin asked. I raised an eyebrow, "A game?" I couldn't see it, but I could tell that Tarrin was nodding. _"I say a letter, and you say everything you see that starts with that letter. Sounds fun, right?" _I shrugged, "It's better than nothing, I guess."

_"Okay, I spy something that starts with the letter...B." _I thought for a second, "Is it...black?" Tarrin clapped, _"Yes! Okay okay, I spy something that starts with the letter...D." _I thought again, "Darkness?" Tarrin clapped frantically, _"Yes! Your good at this. Okay, another one. I spy something that starts with the letter V." _That was a hard one. "Hmmm.." I thought for a few seconds, "Umm...void?" Tarrin started cheering, _"Yes, yes! Okay, one more. I spy something that starts with the letter...that starts with the letter...hmmm..." _I waited a few seconds. He didn't say anything.

"Tarrin, is something wrong?" I asked my friend. _"Umm, yeah."_I waited. "Well...what is it?" Tarrin was a little surprised, _"Oh, it's just that...there's nothing left." _I was confused. "What?" I asked. _"I mean, there's nothing else here. I'm out of things to name."_ He sighed irritably. "Oh, right." I said, as I came to the realization that where we are is completely empty. Not sure how I forgot that.

Then, all of a sudden, everything started to shake. The entire void seemed to begin collapsing. _"Is-is it happening?" _Tarrin asked excitedly. I nodded, "I think so." Tarrin started rejoicing, _"Yes! Yes! We're gonna wake up! We don't have to wait any longer! Thank God-oh wait, I can't say that." _I laughed loudly, "Ahhhhh, finally." I looked up, and a large black shard like object was falling down towards us. I closed my eyes and smiled. _Finally. _Then it hit us.

.

.

.

My eyes opened slowly, as I awoke from my deep slumber. _"Are we there yet?" _I heard Tarrin ask. "Y-yeah." I said groggily, slowly gaining my composure. When I finally did, I sat up and yawned. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was in the infirmary, and nobody was around. I was still wearing my Exorcists coat.

I stood up and walked towards the window, moving away the curtains. It was dark out, the moon was out and full in the sky. "Huh, it's night." I turned and looked over at the clock on the wall. "10:00 p.m." I read from the clock. I looked around to see if I could find anyone. I opened the door into the hallway, which was also empty. _"You'd think at least someone would be awake." _I nodded in agreement.

I walked down the hall for a little while, looking for anything that could tell me what was going on. I saw a calender on the wall a few meters from me, and made my way towards it. I took a few seconds reading it. The calender said that it was Saturday, all the days before it marked off. I stood there for a few seconds.

…_ "Hey, Ashamar." _"Yeah, Tarrin." I said blankly, still quite sleepy. _"Wasn't there something we were supposed to do on Saturday?" _I thought for a second, "Yeah, there was." …My eyes widened, "Oh." _"Shit." _I immediately bolted back to the infirmary room.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" I was running down the hallway, moving as fast as my legs would take me. _"How did you forget about our visit to Road!?" _Tarrin screamed. _We were asleep for two days! And you forgot too!"_

We got back to the Infirmary and I ran straight in. _"Window!"_ Tarrin screamed. I looked over to the window from earlier, and ran over. I started opening the locks on the window, "Come on, come on." The window opened, _"Bingo." _I got onto the edge of the windowsill and prepared myself. "Ready?" I asked. _"Ready."_

I jumped.

**Whew, that's over with. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll try to make sure the next chapter doesn't take as long. I should be able to work on this story more, since I don't have as much to do. I have some band rehearsals and a few more doctor appointments in the next few weeks, but besides that, I should be free as a bird. Okay, I'll just stop it there. Thank you all for reading, if you have any advice or complaints or just feel like expressing yourself, give this chapter a review. Damn, I need a nap. And no, the irony is not lost on me. Thanks again, I'm gonna go to bed.**


	8. Chapter 8: Invitation

The Shadowed Coin

Chapter Eight: Invitation

POV: Krio

"Goddammit!" I yelled I paced back and forth in the infirmary. "How!? How!?" Allen waved his hands, "It's okay, Krio. It's probably nothing. I'm sure he-" "Yeah well I'm sure that they're gonna want to kill him! Even more than they already do!" There was a knock on the door, "It's Tervik." I sighed and tried to calm myself down. "Come in." The door opened and in walked Tervik and Talimal.

"Did you find anything?" Allen asked Tervik calmly. Tervik shook his head, "No, not a trace. It's as if he just disappeared." I huffed, "Now that sounds familiar." Allen turned to me, "Krio, there's no reason for Ashamar to leave _again_, is there? He probably just went out for a while and will be back soon." He was just trying to be optimistic; I could tell.

It was silent for a minute. "So," Tervik spoke up. "Did you guys find anything in here?" Allen and I both shook our heads, "Nothing." I thought for a second, "Well, nothing except for the window being open already but that was probably just the nurse." Allen nodded in agreement. Tervik sighed, "I guess we'll just have to wait for the others to see what they found."

.

.

.

About half an hour had passed since everyone else showed up, and not a one of them had any idea as to where Ashamar went. We all just sat around in the cafeteria but none of us were eating. Well, except for Allen and Talimal, but they don't count. "I just hope he's okay." Rosalia said in a worried tone. Kanda made his classic, "Che", as if he didn't care, but I think he did to some extent. The rest of us were worried sick, some more than others.

"So what if he doesn't show up?" Lavi asked, with his casual inquisitive stare. Tervik shrugged, "There will be a search probably." He didn't sound too sure himself, though. "And then?" Lavi continued to question. "If they find him, they'll detain or possibly kill him. Or at least they'll attempt to." Lavi squinted his eye with a little more curiosity. "And if they don't find him?" Tervik didn't answer that time.

Lavi didn't bother to ask again, probably realizing that none of us had the answer. "It's not fair." I said finally, and a few of them looked at me. "Ashamar did so much for the Order, he's been here longer than any of us, but now he's not only suspected of murder and collaboration with the Noahs, but the Order wants him dead. It's not fair!" I slammed my fist into the table. I wanted to hit something, I wanted to make the higher ups change their minds, I wanted Ashamar to come back. But that wasn't going to happen, it seemed.

"

Krio..." Rosalia started. "Hey!" Someone screamed from the hallway. We turned and saw Reever. "Krio, Lavi, Lenalee! Komui has a mission for you three." I stared down at the table. "A mission?" I said in a slightly irritated tone. "Yeah, something about a party. But you better hurry up. He doesn't have time to wait today." Then he walked off. I grunted irritably, still staring at the table. "Come on." Lavi said standing up. "We should do as he says."

When the three of us got to his office, we were appalled at the amount of papers scattered around the room. I mean, it was at least twice as messy as it usually was. "Good, you're here." Komui said from behind the tallest stack of papers ever. "I have a mission for you." I sighed. "Do you mind moving to where we can actually see you?" I heard a shocked gasp as his head poked out from the side of the stack. "Is this good?" He asked. I sighed, "It'll do." Lenalee shook her head with disappointment.

"Okay, soooo..." Komui trailed off. We waited a few seconds, but he didn't respond. "Komui?" I asked. Lavi sighed and walked up to him, snapping his fingers in front of Komui's face. Komui jolted back to reality. "Huh-what?" We all sighed. "The mission, brother." Lenalee reminded him. "Oh right, yeah." He reached down under his desk and pulled out a few specific papers. "This is all the information." He handed me the papers.

I glanced at the papers for a few seconds, then I looked up. "We're going to a ball?" Komui nodded. "We have heard strange reports around that area, specifically around the times they have there fancy gatherings." He pushed up his glasses. "They have parties of different sorts on a regular basis, and only recently did strange things happen during them."

Lavi leaned over to look at the papers. "You suspect it's innocence?" Komui nodded. Lenalee glanced at her brother. "What kinds of things have been reported?" Komui shrugged, "Usual stuff. Bizarre lights, earthquakes, etc." I nodded. "We'll get going right away." Komui sighed happily. "Thank you, that's one less thing for me to deal with." Then we set out.

.

.

.

POV: Ashamar

**Several hours ago**

_"Hurry up!" _We'd just landed in front of the mansion, and I hoped we just weren't late. It was the middle of the night, Road hated it when people were late. I bolted for the front door and stopped just short of knocking to straighten my clothes. _"Not the time!" _"I have to dress properly when here at the Mansion. The Earl would wouldn't like me being messy." I was wearing a nice black suit and flat bottom shoes that we stole from some store on the way here, since I didn't actually own any proper clothes aside from the Exorcists coat.

_"Done?" _I nodded, and then knocked on the large wooden door. After a few minutes I got a response. "Hello?" I heard through the door. I didn't recognize the voice. _"It must be an akuma." _I nodded in agreement. "Hello?" The voice asked again, a little more confused this time. "It's Ashamar." I answered. There was silence for a few seconds. "Who?" _Goddammit. _I thought to myself. _"Yeah, they must be new if the Earl hasn't told them about you. _

I sighed in irritation. "Road's expecting me. Can you bring her to the door?" I asked hopefully. There was silence again, this time for a little longer. When I listened more carefully, it sounded like the akuma was talking with someone on the other side of the door. "What business do you have with Miss Road?" Another voice said through the door. Before I could respond, there was a loud scream from further in. I couldn't understand it, but I could here the akuma whimpering.

"C-come on in Mr. Ashamar." Tarrin huffed, _"Finally." _I heard the sound of several locks being undone, and then the large door slowly opened. Inside were two akuma, one was a knight in a full suit of armor, while the other was a big blue crab. "Sorry for doubting you, Sir." The knight said with a bow. The crab tried to do the same but only managed to fall over. "Thank you." I said in a plain tone. Although Tarrin was laughing at the crab's failed bow.

I walked inside and the large door closed behind me. There was a long, dark hallway with a dark red carpet across the floor. I'd been here before so I knew where everything was. The were two doors on each side of the hallway, each one leading to a stairwell. Downstairs is where the akuma servants would live. Upstairs would be some of the Noah's rooms. Road, Tyki, Skinn, Fildora, and Maashiima were up the left staircase. Maitora, Sheryl, Toraido, Jasdero, Devitto, and Wisely were up the right staircase. They each had individual rooms, each one looking significantly different than the others.

The only people that didn't live upstairs were Lulu and the Earl. All the through the hall was the dining room, and past that is another, shorter hallway, which at the end was the Earl's room. I had never been there, or even that hallway. Lulu tends to sleep wherever she wants. I'd been down to the akuma quarters, but there's not much to see down there.

We walked down the hall towards the dining room, where nobody was at the moment. _They're probably sleeping. _I thought. "J-just wait here, we'll go get Miss Road." The crab said, and the two of them went off back down the hallway. _"Guess all we can do now is wait" _Tarrin stated, and I nodded.

About twenty minutes later, I heard footsteps from the stairwell. I turned to look down the hallway, and I saw a little purple haired girl come out from one of the doors. She turned towards the dining room and a huge grin appeared on her face. "Ashamar!" She screamed with joy as she ran towards me.

I smiled and held a finger up to my mouth, and she got the message. That didn't stop her from tackling me with a hug, though. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck, staggering me backwards. "I almost thought you wouldn't show up." She said happily. I chuckled, "I'm not late, am I?" She moved her head back to look at me, a small grin on her face. "You're ten minutes late." _"Oh no." Oh no. _Tarrin and I said at the same time.

"You know what that means, don't you Ashamar?" I nodded, smiling nervously. She jumped off of me and grabbed my hand. "Okay then, let's go." She pulled me along down the hall and one of her doors appeared in front of us. I could hear Tarrin whimpering inside my head, knowing what was going to happen. The door opened, and Road stopped and turned her head towards me. "This is your punishment for being late, Ashamar." Then we stepped into the door.

Inside was a very dark purple space, several present boxes floating around. Road's dream world. It may not look scary, but I had all the reasons to fear it. We were standing on the edge of the door, while Road was staring at all the present boxes. "Hmm..." She thought out loud. "How about...that one." She pointed to an orange present box and we immediately started floating towards it.

"Umm, Road?" I asked nervously. "Yes?" She responded. "What exactly is the punishment?" I asked her. She smiled, "We'll find out when we get inside the box." _"I don't like that response." Neither do I Tarrin, neither do I. _

When we got to the edge of the box, we phased through the wall, and the inside was something to fear. It was a castle dungeon, with stone walls, torches along the walls, shackles chained to the walls, and large cells filled with skeletons. "Okay then, this should be a quick one." Road said, somewhere between happy and disappointed.

"Ashamar." She said, and I looked over to her. "Go hang your arms from those shackles." She pointed to the shackles on the wall, and I nodded. I didn't want to, but it wasn't right to anger Road, so I obeyed. I went over to the wall and put my hands into the shackles, and they closed on their own. The shackles moved further up the wall until I was several feet off the ground.

"Okay." Road appeared across the room from me, ten candles floating around her. "One candle for every minute you were late." She said, and the candles started to spin around her. "Ready?" She asked, I nodded slowly. "Oh, and no breaking the shackles or stopping the candles, because I know you can. Let's start." As soon as she finished, the first candle came forward.

The candle struck me right in the center of the chest. I winced, but I could hold. _"Our body regenerates, so it's okay." _The candle hurts Tarrin as well as me, making it that much worse. The second candle flew towards us and it hit me right in the shoulder. The next one hit me in the leg, and the next one in the wrist. I was still holding it together. "Four candles down, Ashamar. Can you keep holding in the pain with six more?" I grinned at her, "Of course." Road smiled at my response.

The next two candles came at the same time and hit me in both of my eyes, but I still didn't scream. Those two fell out and my eyes turned black. "Ashy!" Road yelled. _"Never heard her call you that before." _Tarrin joked. "That's cheating! You can't use any of your dark matter powers!" My eyes turned back to normal and I frowned. "Really? That's no fun." Road rolled her eyes at me, "It's supposed to be fun for me, not you."

I sighed and nodded, waiting for the next four candles. "These two are going to be twice as strong because of that." I gulped. They both came and hit me in the eyes again, taking the place of the last two. "Rgh" I grunted as they hit, barely holding on. _Two more. _I thought to myself. The next one came and hit the right side of my chest. "Rghh" I grunted again. "One more, Ashy~" Road said in a melodic tone. The last one is always the worst, or best in Road's mind. She's a strong believer in the saying "Leave the best for last."

"Here it comes." I could hear the sound of the tenth candle beating against the air as it came towards me. It hit me straight in the heart. Everything seemed to stop for a few seconds as the pain sank in. "gh-AHHH!"I screamed, the pain burning into me. _"Make it stop!" _Tarrin screamed. Road laughed at the scream I gave. The sadistic happiness in her voice was exactly what gave the Noahs their reputation.

When Road finished laughing, the candles disappeared and the shackles opened, and I fell to the ground on my knees. My body started to regenerate, but I could still feel the pain inside me. "That was great, Ashamar." Road said, walking towards me. "Try not to be late next time." She snapped her fingers and I was back in the mansion, in the dining room.

But not on the floor. She opened a door on the ceiling of the dining room, and I collapsed onto the floor. "Ow." I said quietly. After laying for a few seconds, I felt something lick my cheek. When I opened my eyes to look at it, I saw a black cat with a golden bell hanging from it's neck. "Oh, hey there Lulu." I reached my hand out and petted her head. She purred happily and rubbed up against me.

I picked up Lulu and stood up, and then I saw the family sitting at the table. They were all looking at me, and I laughed nervously. "Hey." I waved at them. "We've been waiting for you, Ashamar." The Earl said from the end of the table. "Road said you would visit today." I nodded, "Yeah, too bad I was late." All the Noahs looked at the holes in my suit and winced, realizing what happened.

"Sit down." The Earl said, motioning me towards the seat on the opposite end of the table. I put down Lulu and sat down. Everyone, except for Road, was here, and they were all watching me. "Ashamar." Tyki said, and I looked to him. "Have you ever been to a ball?" He asked me, and I cocked my head at him. "Why do you ask?" Wisely cleared his throat "Because we're going to one."

I stared at him, only just realizing what they meant. "Oh, and you want to bring me along." Wisely nodded. I sighed, "Why are you going to a ball?" They were silent for a second. "I can answer that." the Earl said suddenly. "We found out that there is some innocence there, and the Exorcists are going there." My eyes widened, "Which ones?" I said quickly. "The girl with the boots, the bookman with the hammer, and the one with the scythe. I looked down at the table, "Krio."

"One of your friends?" Sheryl asked. I nodded. There was silence for a minute, then the Earl spoke. "Nobody will hurt him then." I looked up at him, "Really?" The Earl nodded, "Because you'll be the one fighting. We want to see how strong you've become in these past years." I stared at the table silently. "Well, will you do it?" The Earl asked. I chuckled, "Will I do it?" My eyes turned black, darkness started to swirl around me. I looked up at him with a big smile on my face, "I think you know my answer."

** Rage here. Sorry about the wait on this one, guys. I've been busy with school and stuff. I haven't had much time to write, but that won't stop me. You might not get them very often, but you'll get your chapters, I can guarantee that. I have fun planned for the next chapter, so be patient, and you can join in.**


	9. Chapter 9: Party Crashers

**The Shadowed Coin**

**Chapter 9: Party Crashers**

**POV- Krio**

We arrived in town without an issue, but expected the people to be a little more...wary. After all, when strange things start happening to me, I tend to be a little on edge. But maybe that's just me.

The three of us stopped when we got to the giant manor at the back of town. We all stared. "That has to be at least, like, ten stories tall." Lavi said, his one eye looking on with awe. "I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, but yeah, it's big." Lenalee said, seeming just as amazed as Lavi.

I chuckled to myself, "I don't suppose this is the place?" Lavi, regaining his composure, looked around and I looked with him. There were many fancily dressed people all entering the manor, all wearing various outfits. Some wore masquerade masks, others wore expensive dresses, there was even one guy wearing a jester's hat.

"Unless there's somewhere even more ridiculous than this," Lavi started with a laugh. "I think this is the place." I looked around and pointed at one guy wearing a really tall top hat and a monocle, "Do you think we need some fancy outfit?" Lavi grinned, "Anything that fancy and I think we might look a little silly." I laughed, "You think?" Lavi started laughing with me.

"Guys!" Lenalee yelled, sounding a little frustrated. "We have a job to do, so stop laughing!" We calmed ourselves down to a point where we could speak. "C'mon, Lenalee. We've got to have something to amuse ourselves while we're walking into potentially life-threatening situations." Lavi nodded, and Lenalee just sighed. "Let's just...go in, all right?" She said, exasperated. Both Lavi and I nodded, smiles still on our faces.

We walked through the large arching door, the entrance to the manor, to find a large room filled with people dressed in fancy and comedic outfits. The room itself was massive, with golden floors, marble pillars across either side of the room, silver walls, and an arching ceiling with hanging chandeliers.

"Is it just me, or does the inside seem even bigger than the outside?" Lavi asked. I shook my head, "It's not just you." People all around were ballroom dancing, and even more people were pushing in from behind us. I looked up and saw pathways overlooking the foyer from either side, and even more people were watching from up there.

"This would be the perfect place for an akuma to attack." Lavi stated, suddenly much more serious than he was a second ago. Lenalee and I nodded. "It could attack at any moment and kill hundreds of people." Lenalee said, sadness in her eyes, seeing what would happen if this wasn't dealt with soon.

"How should we do this?" I asked, looking up to Lavi. His single eye seemed to scan the room, looking for any sort of suspicious character. "We should try and find the Innocence, for a start." Lenalee rolled her eyes, "He means "how", Lavi. We know what to do." Lavi seemed to ignore her, and his eye looked up to the pathways.

Lavi pointed up to the pathways, "Someone should watch from up there." His finger moved from the pathway to the large crowd in front of them, "Someone else should stay down here within the crowd, and get a closer look upon the people in the crowd." Lenalee and I nodded.

"But what should the third person do?" Lenalee asked. I wanted to know as well. Lavi put his hand on his chin in thought, then he looked to the large open door behind us. "The third person should keep watch from outside. Watch the manor and everything around it. And if anyone suspicious approaches, follow them in and, if you can, warn us."

The plan sounded pretty solid, and we all agreed. "So who does what?" I asked him. Lavi looked to Lenalee, "Lenalee, you should watch the outside, you can move the fastest. Lenalee nodded. "I'll watch from above, since my vision is the best." Lavi stated, and I chuckled. Lavi looked at me, "What?" I shook my head, "No, nothing. It's just funny. The guy with one eye has the bet vision." Lavi smiled, "That is ironic, I guess."

It was silent for a minute. "I guess that means I search through the crowd." We all looked at each other one last time, and then nodded. "Everyone get to your places." Lavi said with a wave of his hand. "Remember, any of these people could be akuma." Lavi said, and then we all moved to our positions.

I gulped fearfully as a walked into the crowd of people. When I got into the crowd, I looked behind myself to see the others, but my vision on the entrance was blocked by the crowd. Before I knew it, I had been engulfed by the crowd.

I started to panic a little. All of the tall, fancily dressed people were dancing around me. They were all in pairs, a man and a women, hands intertwined in their dancing. My body started feeling warm, many bodies pressing closely against me as I tried to move through the sea of people. I steadied my breathing, trying to calm myself.

_Any of these people could akuma. _I thought to myself. This idea was much worse than I thought it to be. If someone in this crowd actually is an akuma, there won't be anything I can do about it. This crowd is too thick to see anything that isn't right in my face. _Shit._

I started to work my way back in the direction I came, attempting to escape the crowd. The crowd had definitely turned me around, but occasionally there would be a small break in the crowd, giving me sight to the entrance.

Suddenly, I heard a quiet sound from behind me. I turned, looking back into the crowd, and the sound got a little louder. I looked behind me, to the entrance, then I shook my head and walked back into the crowd. _Dammit, I hate myself so much. _I thought to myself, annoyed.

As I walked further into the crowd, the sound got louder. I could finally hear it properly now, and it sounded like some sort of...music.

It sounded like a xylophone, and it was very beautiful. Soon, the music became much louder, to such a point that I could no longer hear anything else. It was almost as if the crowd was fading, and the manor was disappearing. The whole world seemed to disappear around this music, and I could only see black.

I kept walking, drawn in by the music, and it continued to raise in volume. Soon, I saw a green crystalline object in the distance. My eyes widened, _The Innocence! _I thought. I started running, moving as fast as my legs would carry me.

The Innocence seemed to only get further away as I ran towards it, and the music became quieter. "No!" I shouted, desperate to catch it. I reached to my side and grabbed the small sickle that hung there. "Innocence, activate!" The sickle soon grew to a size much larger than what it previously was, it's shaft turned jet black, and was at least 5 feet longer. The blade turned black and curved further upwards, while also growing to a much longer size.

I looked at the Innocence and grinned, "You're not going anywhere!" I reached forward with my scythe, and it started growing at an immense speed until it caught the Innocence. When it became long enough, I swung towards the Innocence, hitting it with the blade of my scythe and knocking it towards me. Before it could fly past me, I reached out with my hand to catch it.

When it hit my hand, I immediately gripped it tightly and shoved it into my coat. I sighed with relief, and my scythe turned back into it's sickle state, and I put it back on my side. I closed my eyes, _Thank God. _

When I opened my eyes, I saw the entrance to the manor. I was outside. I immediately ran to the door. When I got there, I noticed that the large door was closed. I cocked my head in confusion. I looked around and noticed that there were no more people by the manor, and Lenalee also wasn't here.

It was quiet, as if the entire world had gone silent. The wind wasn't blowing, no birds were chirping, no sounds of people working. Everything was completely silent.

_Something is very wrong. _I thought to myself. I started banging on the door. "Lavi! Lenalee! What's happening!" No reply. I pulled out my sickle, "Innocence, activate!" The sickle grew to it's new form, and I held it ready in both hands. "Okay, Shining Reaper, Let's do this." I swung upwards at the door, right in the middle of them.

Shining Reaper went straight through the middle of the door, swinging it open. I gasped as I saw what was inside. The entire room was almost completely empty. All of fancy people were gone, without any trace of where they went. Lying on the floor in the middle of the room were Lavi and Lenalee, seemingly unconscious. It seemed as if they'd been beaten down, long cuts and dark bruises all over their bodies.

Standing above them, however, was the scary part. A hooded figure with large black wings. He was wearing a thin set of black armor underneath a long dark blue coat. He wore black gauntlets with pointed fingers, and a set of black metal boots. His wings were those of an angel, except completely black. I couldn't see underneath his hood, but I could almost sense him smiling. Simply looking at him made me tremble.

.

.

.

**POV-Ashamar**

"Well, I guess Krio found it." Road said to my left. Krio had disappeared into the crowd following that strange music, and now he's disappeared. "So we have the Innocence covered. Now we just have to deal with the other exorcists." Tyki said to my right.

The three of us were all watching the foyer from up on the western pathway. I was leaning forward against then railing, boringly watching the crowd. "It's a good thing that the red-head with the eye patch never noticed us." Tyki said, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "That would've made this a little more fun." Road muttered, annoyed.

"When do we do something, Ashy?" Road whined. "Just wait Road." Tyki said, patting her head. "Ashamar is thinking right now." Tyki said quietly, and Road sighed in annoyance. _"But seriously, how much longer?" _Tarrin asked me. _Soon. As soon as the girl, Lenalee, comes back inside, we'll strike. _I thought to him.

I felt tapping on my shoulder, and I turned to see Tyki, with his gray skin and the mark on his forehead showing. He pointed to the entrance, and I noticed Lenalee coming back inside. _It's time. "Oh, finally!" _

I lifted my arms from the railing and turned to the two Noahs. "Road, Tyki, you two deal with the people. I don't care how you do it, just make sure they're gone." Tyki nodded, but Road raised her hand. "Can I take them to my dream realm?" I shrugged, "I remember saying I don't care what you do with them." She cocked her head, "Soooooo..." "Yes." I sighed. Road jumped happily.

Both of them walked off after-wards, and I stood and watched. I looked to the entrance, _Tarrin. "Already on it." _After a few seconds, the large doors closed with a loud bang, and Lenalee immediately looked behind herself in surprise. Not even five seconds later, the people around me started screaming in pain. I didn't bother looking at them, I knew what was happening.

_Ready? "Ready." _I closed my eyes and focused. I felt my body changing. I felt my skin darken, and wings sprout from my back. Black armor started to form around my body, hands, and feet, and a long blue coat formed over them. A hood formed over my head, covering my face. Luna, my two moon shaped blades changed into two long black swords.

By the time I opened my eyes, half the people in the room were gone, and the rest of them were screaming in a panic. Lenalee and Lavi were in the middle of the room with their Innocence activated, looking around in confusion.

I jumped over the railing and glided over to the two exorcists. I stopped several meters away from them, still suspended in the air. When they noticed me, they immediately readied their weapons towards me. "Akuma!" Lavi shouted, and Lenalee started to fly into the air.

"Big hammer little hammer, grow, grow, grow!" Lavi shouted, and his hammer grew to an immense size, but it's weight didn't seem to affect him. "Hmmmm." I said, interested by his Innocence. Meanwhile, Lenalee flew towards me, attempting to kick me. When she got close enough, I simply grabbed her leg and tossed her aside, but she balanced out before hitting the ground. "Interesting." I said, intrigued.

A large circle of symbols appeared in the air above Lavi. "Fire Seal!" He shouted, and one of the symbols started glowing. Lavi struck the symbol with his hammer, and the hammer caught fire. Then the hammer came down towards me, but I flew to the side, and it struck the ground, causing the entire building to shake.

"You know, if you keep up like that, I can't guarantee that you'll get out of here alive." I said in a light tone. Lenalee then came at me with another kick, but I just flew to the side. Then, Lavi's hammer came down where I am, but I flew behind him before it hit. "I guess we can do it your way, then." I sighed.

Lavi turned in surprise to see me, but before he could react, I grabbed his mouth with one hand, scratching his face with my pointed fingers. I then pulled one of my swords and stabbed him through the back, the blade coming out through his torso. I felt him gasp, and then his eyes closed, and he fell unconscious.

"Lavi!" Lenalee screamed from the air, and she came flying towards me. I dropped Lavi to the ground and pulled my sword from his back, and when Lenalee came within range, I slashed across her stomach. My blade struck her stomach, ripping through her coat, and she screamed in pain. Before even a second passed, I grabbed her leg.

She attempted to kick me in the head with her other foot, but I dodged. I slammed her into the ground on her stomach, and then pulled her leg over her back, breaking it. Lenalee screamed in pain and managed to push away from me with her other leg, and managed to get back in the air.

I saw the pain in her eyes, and I enjoyed the gaze. This time, I went on the offensive and flew straight into her, unsheathing my other sword. She tried to reel back away from me, but I managed to slash both my swords across her healthy leg. She then fell backwards, falling to the ground. I didn't need to deal with her after that.

I sheathed my swords, and at this point, there were no more people in the foyer, and Road and Tyki walked up to me. Road was skipping happily and Tyki was wiping his hands with a white handkerchief. "It seems we're done here." Tyki said. He looked over to the bodies of the two exorcists, "Are they dead?" I shook my head, "They'll live. I'd rather they survive, so they can feel more pain later." Tyki chuckled, "You're just how I remember you, Ashamar."

Road skipped up to me and jumped up to hug me by the neck. She spoke by my ear, "So we're not destroying their Innocence?" I shook my head. "The Earl won't be happy about that." She whispered in my ear. I chuckled, "These Exorcists couldn't do anything to the Earl, and I don't think either of them have the Heart."

"What about the Innocence that Krio found?" Tyki asked. "He'll be back soon, so I can get it then. You two can get going. I might be waiting for a while." Tyki nodded and Road jumped down from me. "We'll see you later then, Ashy!" Road shouted as she skipped to the door that just appeared. Tyki nodded at me, and I nodded back, then he followed. Soon, they were both gone, and all I had left to do was wait. _"I hope he doesn't take long."_

_._

_._

_._

**POV-Krio**

"You...bastard!" I ran at the strange man with my scythe drawn. I swung, but the man sidestepped. I swung again, but he sidestepped again. I swung again and again and again, but he just kept dodging easily.

"It's okay, Krio." He said with deep and evil sounding voice. "How do you know my name!?" I shouted in anger. He shook his head, "Goodnight, Krio." Before I could react, the man moved in front of me and grabbed my mouth. He lifted me in the air, and I tried to swing my scythe, but he grabbed my arm mid swing. I tried to struggle, but I felt my consciousness slipping away. Then everything went dark.

** Hey, Rage here. Sorry about the lack of updates. I know I said I wouldn't post chapters very often, but I didn't mean for it to take this long. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Thank you for reading.**


	10. Goodbye Readers

** Rage here, and sorry everyone. I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates, but I'm afraid there won't be anymore. I've decided to stop writing this story, because I'm too busy with the other stories I write off of FanFiction. Don't get me wrong, I loved writing this story, but my mind is just never in the mood for writing it anymore, and I don't want to force myself for fear of making something horrible.**

** However, while I'm done writing, if anyone else wants to continue the story, you can go ahead. Just PM me if you want to take up the mantle. Once again, to those who enjoyed reading this story, I am deeply sorry. This is probably the last you'll hear of me on Fanfiction. I don't plan on making any more stories on here, since all my other stories are original works.**

** One last time, I'm sorry. I hope you all have a wonderful time. Rage out.**


End file.
